The deputies voted, on Friday, provisions which will greatly facilitate the termination of contracts and subscriptions online, whether they have been taken out online or in person.
A few days ago, we kept you informed of the progress of the discussions around the bill for the protection of purchasing power, with amendments voted to facilitate the termination of his telephone contract taken out with commitment. This Friday, July 22, the deputies of the National Assembly adopted in first reading the bill supposed to attenuate for the French people the effects of inflation and the energy crisis, with more precise and more concrete measures on the principle of termination, which goes beyond simple telecom contracts. Before the discussions that will take place in the Senate next week.
The “three-click cancellation” principle for various types of subscriptions
The elected officials of the Palais Bourbon have largely adopted what can be called the “termination in three clicks”, which consists in obliging all those who offer daily contracts to set up a simple termination mechanism, then within the reach of all.
Telecom operators (for telephone and internet, landline and mobile subscriptions), electricity and gas suppliers, but also the publishers of magazines to which you may subscribe, will have to put ” at the disposal of consumers a free functionality allowing to accomplish, by electronic means, the notification and the steps necessary for the termination of the subscribed contracts as stated in article 7 of the law.
In other words, you will be able, from the beginning of the year 2023 (it is in any case the wish of the bill and the deputies), to launch a procedure of termination of subscription in a few clicks, perhaps using a button prominently displayed on your mobile operator’s home page, for example. If this will not be a problem for large companies and their army of developers, the smaller structures offering subscriptions will have to bear the cost. We discuss the case of the insurance contract further down in this article.
Terminating an insurance contract should be as simple as taking out
Let’s come back to an important detail of article 7 of the law. It is mentioned that the contracts concluded can be terminated “ electronically “. At first, the deputies only targeted contracts taken out online. But amendment No. 970 tabled by LFI deputy Sophia Chikirou, adopted by the Assembly, extended this termination to contracts also concluded offline, in a shop for example.
” It is necessary to offer the possibility of simply and quickly unsubscribing online from contracts taken out via a physical signature, to best protect consumers “, justify the deputies. In any case, the law no longer makes a distinction between the subscription taken out online and that taken out offline, which can be a good thing.
The professional, once the termination request has been received, must inform the consumer that it has been received, and provide him, within a reasonable time, with the date on which the contract ends and the effects of the termination. The bill, still in its article 7, provides for the technical procedures to be fixed by decree.
There is therefore the special case of insurance. This appears in article 8 of the law, which provides that the termination of a contract can be as easy as the subscription, finally taking up the same model as that of article 7 on other daily contracts. ” A free functionality is made available to consumers allowing them to perform, electronically, the notification and the steps necessary for the termination of the insurance contracts taken out. »
Operator bundles excluded from termination fee waiver
A few days ago, the deputies had voted an amendment allowing the consumer to terminate, before expiry, a telephone or internet subscription contract, and this, by exempting him from paying the termination costs allocated to the second year. Elected officials believe that this would have the effect of removing offers with a commitment of more than twelve months, in addition to a provision contrary to European legislation. They therefore qualified this part of the bill.
Concretely, the provision as initially proposed by the deputy LR Julien Dive would have called into question the model of bundled subscription + terminal offers, with a discount on the smartphone which would decrease with the duration of the commitment. As we had pointed out, this would pose the risk of an increase in the prices of subscriptions and/or smartphones, at the initiative of the operators, which would obviously have been counterproductive, the law being supposed to protect the households of these discounts.
To avoid disaster, the deputies therefore proposed – and voted – through amendment n°319 tabled by the Renaissance deputy Éric Bothorel, a new version of the text, which still provides that ” when a consumer terminates a telephone or internet subscription contract providing for a minimum duration of commitment, from the end of the twelfth month before the expiry date, the termination costs allocated to the second year up to 25% are waived . You will therefore only have to pay the sums due until the 12e month.
But there is now a difference: the law will not apply to bundled offers from operators, i.e. offers including a subscription and a smartphone, so that telecoms do not charge the cost the abolition of the second year in the cancellation fees for consumers. Those proving their state of over-indebtedness will be exempt from termination fees.
Source : National Assembly
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