PARIS – Starting next week, a landmark new consumer protection law will come into force across France, permanently banning unsolicited cold-call telemarketing. The legislation, championed by President Emmanuel Macron’s administration and set to take effect on August 11, targets intrusive unsolicited sales pitches and cracks down on fraudulent commercial tactics that disproportionately endanger vulnerable groups.
For decades, French consumers have voiced growing frustration with uninvited marketing calls. Under the previous regulatory framework, people who wished to block such calls were required to register their phone numbers on a government-managed opt-out list. However, consumer advocacy groups have long documented that many call centers routinely disregard this registry, leaving millions of people vulnerable to daily intrusions.
The new regulation flips this framework on its head. “Under the updated rules, businesses are strictly prohibited from reaching out to consumers for marketing purposes without their explicit prior consent,” explained Alice Vilcot, chief of staff at France’s Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Prevention of Fraud. “Importantly, consumers also retain the right to withdraw that consent at any point going forward.”
Government data underscores the urgency of the reform: official estimates show that three out of every four French people receive at least one unsolicited sales call each week, with many facing a constant stream of such intrusions to both their landlines and mobile devices. In 2024, 11 leading national consumer organizations issued a joint public appeal for a full ban, denouncing what they called “relentless harassment” that has become an unwelcome regular disruption to daily life. The legislation was ultimately approved by French parliament last year.
To enforce the new ban, regulators have put in place steep punitive measures. Individual violators face fines of up to €75,000 (approximately $87,000) for each illegal call, while corporate offenders can be fined as much as €375,000 ($435,000) per violation. A small set of targeted exceptions apply: consumers who voluntarily opt in to receive marketing communications, for example by checking a consent box during an online purchase, will still receive such calls, and companies may reach out to existing customers with new offers tied to an ongoing contractual relationship. Members of the public can report suspected violations directly through a dedicated government portal.
Vilcot pointed to a high-profile enforcement case from last year that foreshadowed the country’s tougher stance: an Ireland-based telemarketing firm was hit with a €6 million ($6.9 million) fine for violating the old rules by repeatedly calling numbers listed on the previous opt-out registry.
The new rule has not been without controversy, however. In Morocco, which hosts a large offshore call center industry that serves the French market, government officials have warned of significant employment risks. In March, Moroccan Employment Minister Younes Sekkouri stated that between 40,000 and 50,000 local call center jobs could be impacted, noting that the French market makes up more than 80% of total sector revenue for Moroccan call centers.
France’s policy shift puts it among a small group of European nations that have adopted an opt-in model for telemarketing. Neighboring Germany implemented a similar ban on unsolicited cold calls back in 2009. Most other major economies, by contrast, still rely on opt-out systems: the U.S. maintains a national Do Not Call Registry, Canada operates its own national do-not-call list, and the United Kingdom runs the Telephone Preference Service, where users can register to block unwanted calls. In the U.K., violating opt-out requests can result in fines of up to £500,000 ($670,000) per violation.
AP reporter Jill Lawless contributed reporting from London.