Subscription cancellation rights in France

What France adds on top of the EU baseline

Every EU member state gives you a fourteen-day right of withdrawal on distance contracts. France adds two rules that do not exist EU-wide, and both are unusually sharp.

Rule one: they must warn you before it renews

For fixed-term service contracts with a tacit renewal clause, Article L215-1 of the French Code de la consommation requires the trader to inform the consumer in writing — no earlier than three months and no later than one month before the deadline for rejecting renewal — that they may choose not to renew. Where that information is not sent, the consumer may terminate the contract free of charge at any time from the renewal date.

Two things in that sentence do the work. The notice has a defined window — not "reasonable notice", but a specific span before the cut-off. And the consequence of failing to give it is not a fine you never see: you get to leave, free of charge, whenever you like.

This is the rule commonly called the Loi Chatel, after the 2005 statute that introduced it. It applies to fixed-term service contracts with a tacit renewal clause — gyms, internet, magazines, assistance contracts and much else.

What to do with it: before you accept that you are locked in for another year, search your inbox for that notice. If it never came, or came outside the window, the lock-in is not enforceable against you.

Rule two: online sign-up means online cancellation

Article L215-1-1 of the French Code de la consommation requires that where a contract was concluded electronically — or where the trader offers electronic conclusion at the time of termination — the trader must provide a free online facility to terminate it, and must confirm receipt of the termination and the date the contract ends on a durable medium.

The parallel to the German Kündigungsbutton is close, and so is the practical value: it removes the retention phone call, the postal letter and the form that asks for a customer number you no longer have.

Note the second half, which is the part people forget to use — the trader must confirm receipt and tell you the date the contract ends. That confirmation is your evidence, and it is the document that settles a dispute about whether you cancelled in time.

The order to work in

1. Check whether you are still inside the withdrawal period. If the contract is days old, withdrawal is stronger than cancellation: it unwinds the contract entirely rather than ending it going forward.

2. Look for the renewal notice. If it is missing or late, you can leave at any time at no cost, and the notice period in your contract does not apply.

3. Use the online route if the trader offers online sign-up. Keep the confirmation with the end date.

4. Only then work out the notice period from the contract. Most people start here, which is why they accept restrictions that do not bind them.

What this page does not cover

Insurance and telecommunications contracts carry additional sector-specific rules in France, and there are exceptions in the statute for particular contract types. If a substantial amount is at stake, the DGCCRF and the French consumer associations handle exactly these cases and know the patterns of individual traders.

This page gives general information and is not legal advice. The wording that binds is the current text of the articles cited below, not a summary of it.

How this differs from the neighbours

Germany requires a cancellation button under § 312k BGB, and limits automatic renewal to an indefinite continuation with one month notice. Similar in spirit, different in mechanism.

Switzerland has neither. There is no statutory cancellation button and no general right of withdrawal for distance contracts — what was agreed governs, which makes written proof of cancellation more important than anywhere in the EU.

Austria restricts tacit renewal through its Konsumentenschutzgesetz but has no equivalent of the French notice window or the German button.

Treating these four as one "European" position is the most common error in guidance on this subject, and it is the reason someone in Zurich argues with a Swiss trader about a rule that does not apply to them.

Where a tracker helps and where it does not

The rules above are strongest when you invoke them before a renewal, and almost every dispute in this area starts with a date that passed unnoticed. Knowing the law does not help if the moment went by.

What SubTracker does is hold the renewal date somewhere that reaches you in time. It does not cancel on your behalf, does not correspond with traders, and does not give legal advice. For a contested case, the consumer associations are the right address.

Source: Code de la consommation, Art. L215-1, Légifrance, checked September 7, 2026. Source: Code de la consommation, Art. L215-1-1, Légifrance, checked September 7, 2026.