Affirmative consent for free trials
Sign on the House of Commons websitePetitioners ask the House to require affirmative, separate consent and prior price disclosure before free trials, quizzes or recurring payments convert to paid subscriptions, and to ban interfaces that impede cancellation.
Why we would sign this petition
- Reduces unexpected or recurring charges by requiring clear consent, protecting consumers from being billed after forgetting to cancel.
- Protects vulnerable people (seniors, those with cognitive decline or disabilities) who may be particularly susceptible to confusing or manipulative online practices.
- Increases transparency by requiring price disclosure before quizzes/tests and explicit consent for recurring payments, making purchases more informed and cancellations fairer.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Imposes compliance costs and administrative burdens on online businesses, which may be significant for small operators.
- May discourage companies from offering free trials, quizzes or assessments if conversion becomes harder, reducing consumer access to trial services.
- Enforcement and defining 'deceptive' interfaces could be complex, risking overbroad restrictions on legitimate user-experience design.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled Online businesses increasingly offer free trials, quizzes, assessments and other digital services that may result in unexpected charges or recurring subscriptions; Consumers may be required to cancel a free trial to avoid being charged, meaning that forgetting or failing to act is treated as consent to purchase; Consumers may also invest considerable time completing an online quiz, health questionnaire, cognitive assessment or other test before being told that payment is required to receive the results; These practices can affect anyone but may disproportionately harm seniors, people experiencing cognitive decline, people with disabilities, and others who may be particularly vulnerable to confusing or manipulative online practices; and Paying for something should require a conscious decision to buy it, not simply forgetting to say no. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to further strengthen consumer-protection and competition legislation to: 1. Require affirmative consent before a free trial converts to a paid subscription; 2. Provide that silence, inaction or failure to cancel does not constitute consent to begin paid recurring charges; 3. Require the price of online quizzes, tests or assessments to be clearly disclosed before a consumer begins them; 4. Require separate, explicit consent for recurring payments; and 5. Prohibit deceptive interface designs that make purchasing easy but cancellation unnecessarily difficult. Paying for something should require a conscious decision to buy it, not simply forgetting to say no.
Government response
No government response is available yet.