Wisconsin's Automatic Renewal Rules: What Subscribers Should Know

Wisconsin has no single automatic renewal law of the kind California and Colorado enacted. Two separate bodies of law do the work, and they cover different people. The first is Wisconsin Statutes section 134.49, "Renewals and extensions of business contracts," created by 2009 Wisconsin Act 192 and amended by 2019 Wisconsin Act 135. The second is chapter ATCP 123 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, a rule issued by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) covering subscription and billing practices for electronic communications services.

Section 134.49 reaches a "business contract": a contract for the lease of business equipment used primarily in Wisconsin, or for providing business services, for the direct benefit of the end user. Its definition carves out fifteen categories, and two matter most here. The statute does not cover "a contract for the lease of equipment that is for personal, family, or household purposes" or "a contract for the purchase of services that are for personal, family, or household purposes." A personal streaming plan, a home software subscription, or a gym membership sits outside section 134.49 entirely. Other exclusions cover contracts with a predetermined minimum payment in a 12-month period of $250,000 or more, real property, titled vehicles, certain telecommunications contracts, and contracts the customer may end by giving no more than one month's notice.

Chapter ATCP 123 is the consumer-side rule, but it is limited by industry. A note published with its subchapter II says the subchapter regulates subscription and billing practices related to telecommunications services and cable television services provided to consumers, and section ATCP 123.01(5) defines an "electronic communications service" to include internet access service as well as telecommunications, video, and cable service. A phone, cable, satellite, or broadband subscription is covered; a streaming app or subscription box generally is not. The chapter also protects only a "consumer," defined in section ATCP 123.01(3) as an individual buying the service primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. This page is general information about Wisconsin law, not legal advice.

For the services ATCP 123 covers, section ATCP 123.02 requires a provider to disclose the material terms of a proposed subscription at or before the time the consumer subscribes. The disclosure must identify each service offering and its material features, state the price for each, list all incidental charges that may affect the total amount payable including charges for connecting, changing, or disconnecting service, give the effective date and any expiration date, and disclose any limitations on the consumer's right to cancel the subscription at any time. It must be in writing, with the material terms presented in context with each other rather than separated by promotional information. Where a consumer subscribes orally or electronically, the provider may disclose the same way but must confirm the terms in writing on or before the 15th day after the consumer subscribes or on or before the day of the first bill, whichever is later.

Section ATCP 123.04 adds a related duty when terms change: a provider must give written notice at least 25 days but not more than 90 days before a price increase or other subscription change, and the notice must disclose that the consumer may cancel any service offering affected by the change without incurring a cancellation charge or disconnect fee. That last disclosure is not required if the subscription already lets the consumer cancel at any time without such a fee, and the rule carries its own exemptions, including changes the consumer ordered and the expiration of a promotional offer whose duration and follow-on terms were disclosed up front.

Section 134.49 imposes a parallel disclosure duty on the business side. For a covered business contract entered into, modified, or renewed after May 1, 2011 that renews automatically for an additional period of more than one month, the seller must either present a disclosure form and obtain the customer's signature on it, or include the disclosures conspicuously in the contract and obtain the customer's initials on a page where a disclosure appears. The disclosures must state that the contract renews unless the customer declines, the duration of the additional period, whether charges will increase, what the customer must do to decline, and the deadline for doing so. If the seller fails to comply, the automatic renewal provision is not enforceable and the contract terminates at the end of the current term.

Wisconsin has no click-to-cancel requirement. Neither section 134.49 nor chapter ATCP 123 obliges a company to publish an online cancellation button, a one-step link, or a cancellation path that mirrors how you signed up, which is the clearest gap between Wisconsin's rules and the newer laws in California and Colorado.

What ATCP 123 provides instead is a list of prohibited practices in section ATCP 123.10. A covered provider may not fail to honor, on a timely basis, a consumer's request to cancel an electronic communications service; may not charge a fee for canceling a subscription or service offering unless the fee was disclosed under sections ATCP 123.02 and 123.04; may not misrepresent the terms of a subscription; and may not propose or enter into a contract that purports to waive a consumer's rights under the chapter, so fine print cannot sign those protections away.

The renewal reminder is the heart of the consumer-side rule. Section ATCP 123.08 provides that no subscription for a definite period of time may be renewed or extended beyond its scheduled termination date under an automatic renewal or extension provision unless one of two things is true: the consumer is free to cancel the contract at any time, or the provider gives the consumer a written notice reminding them of the scheduled renewal. That reminder must be designed to be readily noticed and understood by the consumer, and it must be given at least 30 days but not more than 60 days before the scheduled effective date of the renewal. A note to the section adds that the reminder may be included as part of a billing statement sent inside that window. A locked-in term has to come with a reminder; a subscription you can leave at any time does not.

Section 134.49 sets a much higher trigger for business contracts. Its notice duty applies only where the initial term is more than one year and the automatic renewal or extension is for an additional term of more than one year. Where it applies, the seller must give written notice at least 15 days but not more than 60 days before the deadline for the customer to decline, stating that the contract will renew unless declined, the deadline, any increase in charges, and what the customer must do to decline; if the seller does not, the renewal provision is unenforceable and the contract terminates at the end of the current term. A one-year contract renewing for another year does not trigger it. Separately, section ATCP 123.06 provides that no provider may bill a consumer for a service offering the consumer has not affirmatively ordered, and that a consumer's failure to reject a service offering is not an affirmative order.

Very little has changed in Wisconsin. Section 134.49 carries the history note "2009 a. 192; 2019 a. 135," showing it was created by 2009 Wisconsin Act 192 and amended once since, by 2019 Wisconsin Act 135, which added an exclusion for contracts supplying industrial, medical, or other gases. The ATCP 123 subscription and billing rules were created by Register, July 1996, No. 487, effective January 1, 1997, and several sections were amended effective January 1, 2009; section ATCP 123.08, the renewal-reminder rule, has not been amended since it took effect. Wisconsin has not joined the states that recently enacted or expanded a general consumer automatic renewal statute.

The practical consequence is a coverage gap worth planning around. If your recurring charge is for phone, cable or satellite television, or internet access, the ATCP 123 disclosure, change-notice, negative-option, and renewal-reminder rules apply to it. If it is for a streaming service, software, a meal kit, or a gym, no Wisconsin rule specifically requires a renewal reminder or an easy cancellation path, so your own calendar reminder before an annual term ends is a sensible substitute.

Chapter ATCP 123 is an administrative rule, and it draws its force from Wisconsin Statutes section 100.20. Subsection (2) authorizes the department, after public hearing, to issue general orders forbidding trade practices it determines to be unfair, and a note published with subchapter II confirms the subchapter was adopted under that authority. Under section 100.20(6) the department may commence an action in circuit court in the name of the state to restrain a violation by temporary or permanent injunction, and the court may make orders restoring to any person the pecuniary loss suffered because of the practices involved.

Section 100.20(5) supplies a private remedy with real teeth: any person suffering pecuniary loss because of a violation of an order issued under that section may sue for damages and shall recover twice the amount of that loss, together with costs, including a reasonable attorney fee. A note published with subchapter II says the same thing directly, stating that persons damaged by violations of the subchapter may bring private actions under sections 100.20(5) and 100.207(6)(a). On the business-contract side, section 134.49(6) entitles a prevailing customer to twice the damages incurred, or twice the periodic payment specified in the contract or $1,000, whichever is less, plus costs and attorney fees, unless the seller establishes one of the defenses set out in section 134.49(6)(d).

Consumers who believe a provider skipped a required disclosure, billed for something they never ordered, or refused to honor a cancellation can file a complaint with the DATCP Bureau of Consumer Protection, which takes complaints through online forms and by mail, keeping screenshots of the sign-up and cancellation screens, dated emails, and billing statements. This page is general information about Wisconsin law as of 2026 and is not legal advice; review the primary sources below or consult a licensed Wisconsin attorney about a specific dispute.