In France, cold sales calls become illegal without consent

Since Tuesday 11 August, a company in France may no longer telephone a person to offer them a product unless that person has previously agreed to be contacted in that way. Consent must be free, specific, informed, unequivocal and revocable: a ticked box at the bottom of a form is not enough, and anyone who has given it can withdraw it at any moment.

The text was definitively adopted by the Senate on 21 May last year, a week after the National Assembly's vote, with entry into force deferred by more than a year to let companies adapt. The reform also ends Bloctel, the public register on which French citizens could sign up in order not to be called and which over the years proved of little use, not least because it shifted the burden onto the citizen: it was up to them to declare themselves unavailable, and the calls carried on regardless.

What remains permitted

Companies may still contact their own customers when the call concerns the performance of an existing contract or a service related or complementary to it. That is the exception allowing an insurer to call about a renewal date or an energy supplier to flag a change of terms. The attempt to secure sector-wide exemptions failed: during the parliamentary passage two home meal delivery companies, Thiriet and Argel, appeared in an earlier version of the text and were later removed. Senator Olivier Rietmann justified the exclusion by saying he refused to have the law written in response to lobbying by a handful of extremely small companies ("Je refuse que nous écrivions la loi en réponse aux sollicitations de quelques entreprises qui sont extrêmement minoritaires").

The penalties provided reach 75,000 euros for individuals and 350,000 euros for legal entities, with higher sums and prison terms for repeat offences or abuse of vulnerability. For one particularly flagged sector, the adaptation of homes for elderly or disabled people, the ban applies immediately and without exception.

The consumer association Ufc-Que Choisir, which had documented disputes arising from cold calling for years, called it a historic victory. The enforcement problem remains: a substantial share of unwanted calls comes from centres located outside French territory, where the penalties set out in this law are hard to apply.