The proposed EU Digital Fairness Act would make free trials ask before charging

The usual software free trial asks for a card on day one and charges it on day 15 unless the user remembers to cancel. On 11 November 2026, the European Commission (the EU's executive) proposed a consumer-protection law under which that charge would not bind a consumer. Under the proposed Digital Fairness Act, a business must send a reminder before a free trial ends, with the end date and the price, and the paid plan starts only if the consumer expressly agrees. If the reminder is missing, or the consumer never says yes, there is no paid contract 1. The proposal does not say what happens to money already taken, but with no contract there is nothing to charge for, so I would expect the consumer to be able to claim it back.

The rules protect consumers, meaning people buying for private use. A product built for companies is covered for every private individual who buys its plan with a personal card. The proposal also requires reminders before a subscription renews and a button labelled "terminate the contract here" (or an equally clear phrase) wherever a subscription can be bought online 1. The European Parliament and the Council (the EU's national governments) still have to agree a text 3, and by my estimate the rules would apply in 2029 at the earliest.

Nothing in the proposal binds anyone yet. Two things matter now. A business selling consumer subscriptions in Germany already has to offer a similar cancel button under German law 4. And a business whose trial revenue depends on users who never cancel can measure today how much of it an explicit yes would cost.

I spend most of my working week on interface design, and of everything in the proposal (it also covers loot boxes, fake "only 2 left" banners and influencer marketing), I think its rules on free trials, renewals and cancelling change the most for a business that sells software by the month.

Who would the Digital Fairness Act apply to, and when?

The proposal defines a consumer as a person acting "outside that person's trade, business, craft or profession" 1. A plan sold only to companies, on invoice, is outside it. A self-serve checkout that takes any card cannot tell a freelancer buying for work from a hobbyist buying for themselves, and the hobbyist is a consumer. So most products with a personal-sized plan sell to some consumers, and those sales would be covered. The same reasoning applies to the withdrawal button EU law has required since June 2026, which lets a consumer undo an online purchase within 14 days.

The 2029 is my estimate: the law firm A&O Shearman puts the average EU negotiation at around 17 months, and the Commission proposes 12 more months after the final law enters into force before the rules apply 1. The text may change on the way.

The proposal has no transitional rule for subscriptions that are already running when it starts to apply, so I would plan for existing customers to be covered from that day.

What does the Digital Fairness Act say about free trials?

Article 20 of the proposal sets three steps for any free trial that was signed up for online 1:

1. A reminder before the trial ends. It goes out "within a reasonable period" before the end of the trial, on a durable medium (an email works), and it is clear and prominent. It states the end date, the price, the duration and how to end the paid contract, and that the consumer can continue on a paid basis if they expressly agree.
2. An express yes. The paid contract binds the consumer only if they expressly agree before the trial ends. If the reminder was not sent, or the consumer did not agree, "the consumer shall not be bound by the contract".
3. A confirmation. Once the consumer agrees, the business confirms it on a durable medium within a week at the latest.

Take a 14-day trial that starts on 1 March. Under Article 20, the app emails the user a few days before 15 March with the end date, the price of the paid plan (say 12 euros a month) and a button to continue on it. If the user clicks, they get a confirmation and the plan starts. If they ignore the email, the trial ends and nobody is charged, even with a card on file.

The rule has three limits:

• A free plan with no end date is outside it. The proposal defines a free trial as a product offered free "during a set period of time" 1.
• A cheap trial is outside it too. The same definition covers only a period "without the obligation to pay", so a trial that costs 1 euro is not a free trial under Article 20.
• "A reasonable period" has no number. The proposal does not say how many days before the end the reminder has to arrive.

What changes for subscriptions that renew automatically?

The proposal splits subscriptions by length, and both kinds get a reminder before they renew 1.

Plans of six months or longer, such as annual plans, are covered by Article 21. The reminder arrives no earlier than one month and no later than 14 days before the renewal date. It states the renewal date, the length of the next period, the price, and how to cancel, with a link to the cancel button. For an annual plan that renews on 1 March, the window runs from 1 February to 15 February.

If the reminder never goes out, the customer can cancel at any time after the renewal, with no notice period, and owes nothing for the renewed period up to the day they cancel. That right lasts until the business sends the reminder.

Shorter plans, such as monthly plans, are covered by Article 22, and there is no reminder every month. A monthly plan that started on 10 January needs one reminder by 3 June: one week before the 10 June renewal, which takes the contract to six months in total. If the reminder is missing, the customer can cancel free of charge, with no notice period, from the day it was due until it is sent. The proposal does not say whether the reminder repeats every six months after that.

What does the "terminate the contract here" button have to do?

Article 23 requires a cancel function on the website or app wherever a business lets consumers sign up online, "irrespective of the manner in which the contract was concluded" 1. So a plan bought through a sales call still needs it if the product also sells online.

The function has four parts:

• A label reading "terminate the contract here" or an unambiguous equivalent, prominently displayed and easy to reach.
• A short form where the consumer gives or confirms their name, which contract they are ending, and where to send the receipt.
• A confirmation button labelled only "confirm the contract termination" or an unambiguous equivalent.
• A receipt on a durable medium within a week, with the content, the date and time it was sent, and the date the cancellation takes effect.

Germany already requires almost exactly this. Section 312k of its Civil Code makes businesses selling consumer subscriptions through a website offer a "Verträge hier kündigen" (cancel contracts here) button, leading to a confirmation page with a "jetzt kündigen" (cancel now) button 4. The proposal would make the German model the rule in every EU country.

What about the "are you sure?" screens?

An annex at the end of the proposal lists practices that would be banned in all circumstances 2. Three of them describe a typical cancel flow:

• presenting the option to stop a subscription "as the wrong choice";
• asking again and again for a choice the consumer has already made, unless the law requires the question;
• making the steps to refuse, withdraw or change a choice "disproportionately more numerous, complex or time-consuming than is reasonably necessary".

A fourth covers the sign-up page: showing the price, the contract length or the automatic renewal less prominently than other key information in the offer.

When Sveriges Konsumenter, a Swedish consumer organisation, cancelled 20 streaming, audiobook and news subscriptions for a 2024 report, 17 of the 20 cancel flows had unnecessary steps. In my view, the extra "are you sure?" screen is usually there to meet a retention target. The rule on disproportionate steps would turn that into a legal question.

What can a subscription business do now?

If you sell a plan with a free trial or an automatic renewal to people in the EU, here is what you can do:

• Check whether you sell to consumers. If anyone with a card can buy your cheapest plan, you almost certainly do.
• If you sell in Germany, add the cancel button now. Section 312k applies today 4.
• Measure what an opt-in trial would cost you. Count how many of your trials convert today without the user doing anything, so the revenue effect of an explicit yes is in your forecast before the law requires it. Build the reminder email and the "continue on the paid plan" step the next time you rebuild the trial flow anyway.
• Schedule renewal reminders for annual plans between one month and 14 days before the renewal date. It costs one email and would satisfy Article 21 as proposed.
• Count the clicks. Compare the steps to cancel with the steps to sign up, and remove the screens that ask the same question twice. Keep the one confirmation step Article 23 requires.
• Update your Terms of Service when the flow changes. Trial length, whether a card is taken up front, renewal and cancellation terms all belong in them. Lawcel, the tool we build, watches code changes and flags when one puts those terms out of date, such as a new trial that converts to paid.