A consumer protection bill was passed on May 28, 2018, in Vermont concerning contracts with automatic renewal provisions.
The new law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2019, applies to “consumer” contracts with an initial term of at least one year and that automatically renew for a subsequent term longer than one month.
The law requires:
- Clear and conspicuous language in bold-face type regarding the automatic renewal terms.
- That a consumer separately from accepting the contract itself take some affirmative action to opt-in to the automatic renewal provision.
- That the merchant provides the consumer with written or electronic notice of the automatic renewal no less than 30 days, and no more than 60 days before the contract renews or terminates.
While the law applies to “consumer” contracts, it also includes business-to-business contracts, as businesses are included in the definition of “consumer” under Vermont law.
Read the full text at https://legiscan.com/VT/text/H0593/id/1805542
AND as a reminder, California’s latest automatic renewal law goes into effect on July 1st which requires that any offer accepted online must also allow consumers a mechanism for cancelation online.
Takeaway: This is not the first time “double opt-in” for automatic renewal has been required – regulators have required it for years in the settlement of enforcement actions, but it is the first state law to codify and require this. Marketers should re-examine their automatic renewal programs before these new laws go into effect.
