Your subscription cancellation rights in Italy

Italy’s newest weapon against tacit renewal: a mandatory warning 30 days before expiry — and if it never came, you can leave at any time, free. How Article 65-bis works.

The short answer

Italy attacked tacit renewal head-on with Article 65-bis of the Consumer Code: in fixed-term service contracts with an automatic renewal clause — gyms, pay-TV, magazines, telecom are the classic cases — the professional must warn you, thirty days before expiry, of the date by which you can send your formal cancellation, through writing, SMS or the electronic channel you indicated. The remedy has real teeth: if the warning never came, you may withdraw at any time until the next expiry, without charges. On top sits the older unfair-terms rule that voids clauses demanding cancellation absurdly far in advance.

Leutrim Miftaraj

Founder, SubTracker · Updated September 9, 2026

What the law says

Italy added a dedicated tacit-renewal rule to the Consumer Code: under Article 65-bis (introduced by Law 214/2023), in fixed-term service contracts with an automatic renewal clause the professional must warn the consumer thirty days before expiry of the date by which formal cancellation can be sent, in writing or by SMS or another electronic channel indicated by the consumer — and if that warning is missing, the consumer may withdraw at any time until the next expiry, without charges; separately, Article 33 treats clauses that set an excessively early cancellation deadline to trigger tacit renewal as unfair and therefore void.

The provision is recent — added by the annual competition law approved at the end of 2023 — and it targets the precise mechanics of the Italian disdetta trap: a fixed term, a tacit renewal clause, and a cancellation deadline that passes unannounced.

The warning, and what its absence buys you

The design inverts the old burden. Before, missing the disdetta window locked you into another term; now the professional must put the window in front of you — thirty days before expiry, naming the date by which formal cancellation can be sent, in a channel you chose. Miss that duty, and the lock-in dissolves: you can withdraw at any moment until the following expiry, free of charges. A contract that renewed on you silently after the rule took effect is exactly the case to challenge — in writing, citing the missing warning.

The unfair-terms backstop

Independently, the Consumer Code’s unfair-terms list treats clauses that set an excessively early cancellation deadline — engineered so the tacit renewal is nearly unavoidable — as vessatorie: unfair and therefore void. A ninety-day disdetta window on a twelve-month contract is the pattern this rule exists for.

The order to work in

1. Classify. Fixed-term service contract with an automatic renewal clause? Article 65-bis applies. A rolling monthly plan sits outside it — the contract’s own notice term governs there.

2. For a silent renewal, demand the warning. Ask in writing when and through which channel the thirty-day notice was sent. No answer or no notice: state the withdrawal, cite the article, pay nothing for the exit.

3. Send the disdetta formally. Recorded form — PEC, registered letter, or the channel the contract names — and keep the proof; Italian practice runs on the raccomandata for a reason.

4. Escalate. The supplier first; then the consumer associations (Italy’s are unusually active and litigate collectively) and AGCM, the competition and consumer authority, for practice-level complaints.

This page gives general information, not legal advice. Legislation is summarised; the wording that binds is the current text of the law itself. For a contested case, the consumer-protection bodies named above or a local lawyer are the right address.

Source: Art. 65-bis Codice del Consumo (Legge 214/2023), checked September 9, 2026. · How we verify legal content

Stop losing money to forgotten subscriptions

Track unlimited subscriptions free, forever. No card required, no bank connection.

Start free

Frequently asked questions

Must Italian subscriptions warn me before a tacit renewal?+

For fixed-term service contracts with an automatic renewal clause, yes: Article 65-bis of the Consumer Code requires a warning thirty days before expiry naming the date by which formal cancellation can be sent, in writing, by SMS or through the electronic channel you indicated.

What happens if the 30-day warning never came?+

The remedy is the strong part: you may withdraw at any time until the next contract expiry, without charges. State the withdrawal in a recorded form, cite the missing warning under Article 65-bis, and keep the proof of sending.

My contract requires cancellation months before expiry. Is that valid in Italy?+

Clauses setting an excessively early cancellation deadline to make tacit renewal nearly unavoidable are on the Consumer Code’s unfair-terms list — vessatorie, and therefore void. Challenge the clause as such rather than racing the engineered deadline.

Does Article 65-bis cover monthly streaming subscriptions?+

It targets fixed-term service contracts with automatic renewal clauses — the gym, pay-TV and telecom pattern. A rolling monthly plan sits outside it; there the contract’s notice term and the general unfair-terms rules govern, with your written cancellation and records carrying the weight.