Autorenewal regulation has been a recent focus of both federal and state regulators. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently vacated the FTC’s Negative Option Rule on procedural grounds, but businesses need to remain vigilant of state regulatory requirements, including new ones that will take effect starting in September. Some of these regulations impose requirements similar to those in the FTC’s now-vacated rule. However, they also impose additional requirements, including regular subscription reminders and price increase notices. Below is a brief update on forthcoming requirements in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York that will impact subscription providers.

Massachusetts (Effective September 2, 2025)

The Massachusetts Attorney General issued a final rule regarding unfair and deceptive fees under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. The rule implements requirements similar to the now-vacated Negative Option Rule, and also imposes additional requirements, including regular subscription reminders.

Disclosure Requirements: Businesses must provide clear and conspicuous disclosures about recurring charges and how to stop them. These disclosures must be in writing—even if the offer is made verbally.

Any trial offers must also clearly and conspicuously disclose in writing the following:

  • Any financial obligation that may be incurred by accepting the trial offer;
  • All products for which the consumer may incur a financial obligation by accepting the trial offer;
  • Instructions for rejecting or cancelling the trial offer before incurring a financial obligation;
  • When the consumer must cancel to avoid a financial obligation; and
  • When the consumer will incur any financial obligation if she fails cancel the trial.

Cancellation Mechanisms:Businesses must provide a simple mechanism to cancel and immediately stop any recurring charges. The “simple mechanism” must be at least as easy to access and use as the signup method and must, at a minimum, be available through the same medium the consumer used to sign up. For online signups, the simple cancellation mechanism must be available through the same website or web-based application.

Subscription Reminders: Businesses must provide written subscription reminders 5 – 30 days before the renewal cancellation deadline. For subscriptions that renew monthly (or more frequently), businesses can choose instead to provide notices every time the subscription renews.

Connecticut (Effective October 1, 2025)

 At the end of June, Connecticut amended its autorenewal law, which now more closely resembles California’s law. 

  • Disclosure Requirements: The amendment defines “clearly and conspicuously” to closely mirror the definition in California’s law.
  • Recordkeeping: The amendment directs agencies and courts to consider whether a business has produced a record of affirmative consent in assessing compliance with the law. However, unlike California’s law, it does not expressly require businesses to maintain verification of consumer consent.

Connecticut will impose further changes to its autorenewal law next summer when CT SB3 comes into effect in July 2026.

New York (Effective November 5, 2025)

Significant updates to New York’s autorenewal law will come into effect on November 5, 2025. Below are three key provisions of the new law.

Price Increase Requirements: Whenever implementing a price increase relating to an automatic renewal, a business must either (1) obtain in advance affirmative consent to the increased price; or (2) allow the consumer to cancel penalty free within 14 days after the price increase and provide a pro-rated refund for the remainder of that term.

Cancellation Mechanisms: A business must provide the option to cancel through the medium by which the consumer signed up, as well as any other medium by which a consumer can consent to the subscription or any price increase.

Subscription Reminders: Businesses that offer subscriptions with free trial periods exceeding one month are required to notify consumers of the first subscription charge between 3 and 21 days before the cancellation deadline. This notification must be sent using the consumer’s preferred communication method and provide cancellation instructions.

Check back here for more updates on federal and state autorenewal law developments. 

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Photo of Laura Kim Laura Kim

Laura Kim draws upon her experience in senior positions at the Federal Trade Commission to advise clients across industries on complex advertising, privacy, and data security matters. She provides practical compliance advice and represents clients in FTC and State AG investigations. Laura advises…

Laura Kim draws upon her experience in senior positions at the Federal Trade Commission to advise clients across industries on complex advertising, privacy, and data security matters. She provides practical compliance advice and represents clients in FTC and State AG investigations. Laura advises on a wide range of consumer protection issues, including green claims, influencers, native advertising, claim substantiation, Made in USA claims, children’s privacy, subscription auto-renewal marketing, and other digital advertising matters. In addition, Laura actively practices before the NAD, including recent successful resolution of matters for both challengers and advertisers. She is the Chair of Covington’s Advertising and Consumer Protection Investigations Group and participates in the firm’s Internet of Things Initiative.

Laura re-joined Covington after a twelve-year tenure at the FTC, where she served as Assistant Director in two divisions of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, as well as Chief of Staff in the Bureau of Consumer Protection and Attorney Advisor to former Chairman William E. Kovacic. She worked on key FTC Rules and Guides such as the Green Guides, Jewelry Guides, and the Telemarketing Sales Rule. She supervised these and other rule making proceedings and oversaw dozens of the Commission’s investigations and enforcement actions involving compliance with these rules. Laura also supervised compliance monitoring for companies under federal court or Commission order.

Laura also served as Deputy Chief Enforcement Officer at the U.S. Department of Education, where she helped establish a new Enforcement Office within Federal Student Aid. In this role, she managed investigations of higher education institutions and oversaw issuance of fines and adverse actions for institutions in violation of federal student aid regulations. Laura also supervised the borrower defense to repayment division and the Clery campus safety and security division.

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Photo of Andrew Siegel Andrew Siegel

Andrew Siegel advises clients on advertising, data security, and privacy matters. Andrew represents clients in investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General, advising clients on a variety of privacy and consumer protection matters, including marketing and claim substantiation issues. In…

Andrew Siegel advises clients on advertising, data security, and privacy matters. Andrew represents clients in investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General, advising clients on a variety of privacy and consumer protection matters, including marketing and claim substantiation issues. In addition, Andrew advises clients in investigating and responding to data security incidents and cyber-based attacks, including data breaches involving personal and other regulated data, advanced persistent threats, and state-sponsored attacks.

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Photo of Alexandra Remick Alexandra Remick

Alexandra Remick is a member of the Advertising and Consumer Protection Investigations Group. Her practice focuses on regulatory and compliance matters related to consumer protection. She has experience advising clients on topics including endorsements, social media influencers, native advertising, automatically renewing subscriptions, consumer…

Alexandra Remick is a member of the Advertising and Consumer Protection Investigations Group. Her practice focuses on regulatory and compliance matters related to consumer protection. She has experience advising clients on topics including endorsements, social media influencers, native advertising, automatically renewing subscriptions, consumer reviews, and claim substantiation in a variety of contexts. She frequently provides advice on specific advertising compliance questions and works with companies on developing internal advertising compliance policies. She has also represented multiple clients in FTC investigations involving consumer protection issues, has conducted regulatory due diligence on multiple transactions, and has drafted comments on multiple rulemakings.

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Photo of Munseong Park Munseong Park

Munseong Park is an associate in the London office. His practice focuses on trademark matters, with an emphasis on counseling and litigation, as well as regulatory matters related to consumer protection.

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