Connecticut's Automatic Renewal Law: What Subscribers Should Know

Connecticut has two automatic-renewal laws. The modern one is Conn. Gen. Stat. section 42-158ff, in Chapter 742d, "Automatic Renewal and Continuous Services." It was created by section 1 of Public Act 23-191 and took effect October 1, 2023. Two acts from the 2025 session then rewrote it. Public Act 25-113, section 20, repealed and substituted the section effective October 1, 2025, and Public Act 25-44, section 7, carried as Substitute Senate Bill 3, repealed and substituted it again effective July 1, 2026. Both dates have passed, so the section as reshaped by both acts is the law in force.

Section 42-158ff applies to a "consumer agreement," meaning any verbal, telephonic, written, or electronic agreement initially entered into or amended on or after October 1, 2023 between a business and a consumer under which the business agrees to provide consumer goods or consumer services, meaning things purchased, leased, exchanged, or received primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. A consumer is any individual who is a resident of Connecticut and a prospective recipient of those goods or services. The statute regulates an "automatic renewal provision," under which a business may renew without any action from you, and a "continuous services provision," under which it keeps supplying the service until you act to prevent or terminate it.

The exclusions are broad. The definition carves out services from a business or affiliate operating under a franchise issued by a political subdivision or an authorization issued by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority; services from a business or affiliate regulated by PURA, the FCC, or FERC; entities regulated by the Insurance Department; banks, out-of-state banks, bank holding companies, and Connecticut, federal, or out-of-state credit unions; and, notably for subscribers, any global or national service largely or predominately consisting of audiovisual content. That last carve-out places the large national streaming video services outside section 42-158ff. This page is general information about Connecticut law, not legal advice.

Subsection (b) bars a business from entering into or offering a consumer agreement with an automatic renewal or continuous services provision unless several conditions are met. It must establish and maintain an electronic mail address, a postal address, or the telephone number or online means required by the cancellation subsection; Public Act 25-44 deleted the older requirement that any telephone number be toll-free. Before an automatic renewal it must disclose that the business will renew the agreement until you take action to prevent it; a description of the actions you must take, plus a link or other electronic means if disclosed electronically; all recurring charges to be charged to your credit card, debit card, or third-party payment account and the amount of any change if known; the length of any renewal term unless you select it; any additional provisions concerning the renewal term; any minimum purchase obligation; and contact information for the business. For a continuous services provision the equivalent disclosures come before you enter the agreement, and any material change must be disclosed, with a description of how to cancel, before the change is made.

Public Act 25-113 added a defined term, "clearly and conspicuously disclose," and rewrote subsection (b) to hang the disclosure duties on it. For a disclosure made electronically or in writing, it must be in a form you can retain and in text either larger than the surrounding text or the same size but in a contrasting typeface, font, or color, or set off by symbols or other marks that draw your attention. For a disclosure made verbally or telephonically, it must be in a volume and cadence readily audible to and understandable by you.

Free gifts and trial periods carry extra duties. Before you enter the agreement the business must disclose the price you will be charged once the period ends and any manner in which the pricing will change. If the agreement is offered electronically or telephonically and includes a free gift or trial period, or a discounted or promotional price period, a further reminder is required: where the period runs at least 32 days, at least 21 days after it commences and not earlier than three days before it expires; where it runs at least one year, at least 15 days but not more than 45 days before it expires. That reminder is not required if the business has not collected or does not maintain your email address or telephone number and cannot reach you by other electronic means. Under subsection (c) the business may not charge your card or third-party payment account for a renewal, even at a promotional or discounted price, without your affirmative consent; Public Act 25-113 added that a court or state agency weighing whether affirmative consent was obtained shall consider, among other things, whether the business produced a record of that consent obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the statutes on recording telephone calls.

Subsection (e) governs cancellation and is where the 2026 rewrite did most of its work. If you entered the agreement online, the business must let you take any action necessary to stop the renewal or terminate the service online, without requiring any offline step, and it must enable that through one of the first two routes below. Every covered business must enable cancellation by at least one of three routes: a prominently displayed direct link or button, which may sit in your account or profile or in your device or user settings; an electronic mail message from the business that is immediately accessible to you and that you can reply to without obtaining any additional information; or, beginning July 1, 2026, a telephone number you can retain that is clearly and conspicuously displayed on the business's website, if it maintains one.

Where a business maintains that telephone number it must promptly answer all calls during normal business hours and must not obstruct or delay your ability to cancel. If you leave a voicemail requesting cancellation, the business has one business day from the voicemail either to process the request or to return your call; and where the voicemail includes sufficient information for the business to act, it must complete the cancellation within one business day if it is unable to reach you. Retention pitches are regulated: on such a call a business may present a discounted offer, a retention benefit, or information about the effect of cancelling only if it first informs you clearly and conspicuously that you may complete the cancellation at any time by stating that you intend to "cancel" or similar words, and it must then promptly process the request. A separate subdivision bars any business subject to the subsection from obstructing or delaying cancellation. A business may require you to enter account information or otherwise authenticate online first, but a consumer unwilling or unable to do so may not be precluded from cancelling offline by the contact methods the statute requires the business to maintain.

Subsection (d), added by Public Act 25-44, took effect July 1, 2026 and is the provision most likely to change what lands in a Connecticut subscriber's inbox. From that date every business that enters into a consumer agreement with an automatic renewal or continuous services provision must send the consumer an annual reminder about that provision. No minimum contract length applies, so monthly plans are covered. The reminder must identify the goods or services subject to the provision and the means by which you may prevent the renewal or terminate the service, and must state the frequency and amount of the charges. It travels in the same manner the provision was activated where that was not an in-person transaction; otherwise, or where the provision was activated in person, by whichever of email, mail, or telephone you are accustomed to using with the business.

Connecticut also retains an older, narrower rule at section 42-126b(c). Where products or services used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes are sold for a specified period of more than 180 days under a written contract that automatically renews for a period of more than 31 days, the seller must give clear and conspicuous written notice that you may cancel, including the cancellation procedure, at least 15 days but not more than 60 days before the renewal date or the expiration of the cancellation period, whichever is earlier. For contracts of 180 days or less, that notice must be included in the contract itself. If the required notice is not given, anything furnished after the specified period expires is deemed an unconditional gift. That older section does not reach health club contracts subject to section 21a-219, contracts subject to the Connecticut Truth-in-Lending Act at sections 36a-675 to 36a-685, or contracts between a condominium or housing association and someone other than an individual, and subsection (d) puts banking, insurance, and securities products regulated or licensed by a state or federal agency outside the whole section.

Two 2025 acts amended section 42-158ff on different timetables, and both are now operative. Public Act 25-113, section 20, effective October 1, 2025, added the "clearly and conspicuously disclose" definition, simplified the subsection (b) disclosure provisions to refer to it, and added the affirmative-consent factors in subsection (c). Public Act 25-44, "An Act Concerning Consumer Protection and Safety," then made the larger structural changes at section 7, effective July 1, 2026: it added the annual reminder as a new subsection (d), redesignated and substantially expanded the cancellation subsection as (e), and added the unfair trade practice provision as subsection (f). Because Connecticut publishes overlapping amendments separately until the next full revision, readers checking the statute should look at the 2026 Supplement, which carries both the base text and the note describing the section as amended by Public Act 25-44.

The Attorney General's office publicised the July 2026 change as new "click to cancel" protections, citing annual renewal reminders, expanded cancellation options, and a duty to promptly process cancellation requests, including the rule that a business must act on a sufficiently detailed cancellation voicemail within one business day.

Two changes are structural: the annual reminder applies regardless of term length, reaching the short billing cycles most state renewal laws leave alone, and the telephone route with its answering, voicemail, and retention-offer rules is unusually detailed. A third concerns enforcement. The version in force from October 2023 through June 2026 said nothing in the section created a private right of action; Public Act 25-44 deleted that sentence. The statute no longer forecloses private suits, and because a violation is designated an unfair trade practice, the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act supplies the remedies.

Subsection (f) provides that any violation of section 42-158ff constitutes an unfair trade practice under subsection (a) of section 42-110b, the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, or CUTPA; section 42-126b(e) says the same for the older notice rule. On the public side, section 42-110m lets the Commissioner of Consumer Protection proceed under the chapter's investigative sections or request the Attorney General to apply to the Superior Court for an order temporarily or permanently restraining the practice, or for an order directing restitution and appointing a receiver in appropriate cases, with no proof of public interest or public injury required.

On the private side, section 42-110g(a) provides that a person who suffers an ascertainable loss of money or property as a result of a method, act, or practice prohibited by section 42-110b may bring an action to recover actual damages, again without proof of public interest, with punitive damages and equitable relief available in the court's discretion; subsection (b) permits class actions on behalf of similarly situated persons. Consumers who prefer to complain can file with the Department of Consumer Protection through the methods it lists, or with the Attorney General's office, which lists consumer inquiries at 860-808-5318 and attorney.general@ct.gov. Keep the sign-up confirmation, any annual reminder, a record of your cancellation attempt, and your billing statements. This page describes Connecticut law as of 2026 and is general information, not legal advice; consult a licensed Connecticut attorney about a specific dispute.