Free trial consent rules

AI summary

Petitioners ask the House to amend consumer‑protection and competition laws to require affirmative, separate consent before free trials or quizzes convert to paid recurring subscriptions, disclose prices before tests, and ban interfaces that impede cancellation.

AI summaries describe petitioners’ requests and claims. Consult the official record for the full text.

Official petition

Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled Online businesses increasingly offer free trials, quizzes, assessments and other digital services that may result in unexpected charges or recurring subscriptions; Consumers may be required to cancel a free trial to avoid being charged, meaning that forgetting or failing to act is treated as consent to purchase; Consumers may also invest considerable time completing an online quiz, health questionnaire, cognitive assessment or other test before being told that payment is required to receive the results; These practices can affect anyone but may disproportionately harm seniors, people experiencing cognitive decline, people with disabilities, and others who may be particularly vulnerable to confusing or manipulative online practices; and Paying for something should require a conscious decision to buy it, not simply forgetting to say no. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to further strengthen consumer-protection and competition legislation to: 1. Require affirmative consent before a free trial converts to a paid subscription; 2. Provide that silence, inaction or failure to cancel does not constitute consent to begin paid recurring charges; 3. Require the price of online quizzes, tests or assessments to be clearly disclosed before a consumer begins them; 4. Require separate, explicit consent for recurring payments; and 5. Prohibit deceptive interface designs that make purchasing easy but cancellation unnecessarily difficult. Paying for something should require a conscious decision to buy it, not simply forgetting to say no.

Government response

No government response is available yet.