S 5615: Requires businesses that allow automatic renewals, continuous service offers, and automatic subscription renewals to provide notice regarding cancelling such renewals, services, or subscriptions.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5615 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 25, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to automatic renewals, continuous service offers, and automatic subscription renewals The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "click to 2 cancel act". 3 § 2. Paragraph c of subdivision 1 of section 527-a of the general 4 business law, as added by chapter 267 of the laws of 2020, is amended 5 to read as follows: 6 c. fail to provide an acknowledgment that includes the automatic 7 renewal or continuous service offer terms, cancellation policy, and 8 information regarding how to cancel in a clear and conspicuous manner 9 that is capable of being retained by the consumer. If the offer includes 10 a free gift or trial, the business shall also disclose in the acknowl- 11 edgment [how to cancel and allow the consumer to cancel before the 12 consumer pays for the goods or services] the price that will be charged 13 after the free gift or trial period ends, and if the free gift or trial 14 period lasts for more than thirty-one days followed by an upcoming auto- 15 matic renewal or continuous service charge to such consumer's account, 16 the business shall provide such acknowledgement at least three days 17 before, but not more than twenty-one days before, the cancellation dead- 18 line for such automatic renewal or continuous service charge. Such 19 notice shall include instructions on how to cancel and allow the consum- 20 er to cancel before the consumer pays for the automatic renewal or 21 continuous service charge. 22 § 3. Paragraph b of subdivision 3 of section 527-a of the general 23 business law, as added by chapter 728 of the laws of 2023, is amended to 24 read as follows: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02152-03-5 
 S. 5615 2 1 b. A business that allows a consumer to accept an automatic renewal or 2 continuous service offer for an initial paid term of one year or long- 3 er[, provided that such automatic renewal or continuous service renews 4 for a paid term of six months or longer,] shall notify such consumer of 5 such upcoming automatic renewal or continuous service charge to such 6 consumer's account at least fifteen days before, but not more than 7 forty-five days before, the cancellation deadline for such automatic 8 renewal or continuous service charge. Such notice shall include 9 instructions on how to cancel such renewal or continuous service charge. 10 § 4. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 527-a of the general 11 business law, as amended by chapter 728 of the laws of 2023, is amended 12 and a new paragraph d is added to read as follows: 13 a. In addition to the requirements of subdivision two of this section, 14 a consumer who accepts an automatic renewal or continuous service offer 15 online shall be allowed to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous 16 service exclusively online, which may include a termination email 17 formatted and provided by the business that a consumer can send to the 18 business without additional information. A consumer who accepts an auto- 19 matic renewal or continuous service offer shall additionally be allowed 20 to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous service offer in the 21 same medium that the consumer accepted such automatic renewal or contin- 22 uous service offer. If the consumer accepted the automatic renewal or 23 continuous service offer through a phone call, a toll-free phone number 24 shall be provided for the purposes of cancellation of the subscription 25 and shall be prominently displayed in the disclosure. 26 d. In addition to the requirements of subdivision two of this section, 27 in the case of a change in the fee charged under an existing automatic 28 renewal or continuous service offer that has been accepted by a consum- 29 er, the business shall provide, no less than seven days and no more than 30 thirty days before the fee change takes effect, the consumer with both 31 of the following: (i) a clear and conspicuous notice of the fee change; 32 and (ii) information regarding how to cancel such automatic renewal or 33 continuous service in a manner that is capable of being retained by the 34 consumer. 35 § 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 36 it shall have become a law.