Washington D.C. is seeking to impose new burdens on businesses
offering goods and services with automatic renewal provisions. The
bill was submitted to the Mayor's office, and we expect a
response around January 14, 2019.
If passed, the bill would require businesses to disclose the
automatic renewal provisions and cancellation procedure in
contracts with consumers. If the automatic renewal term is 12
months or more and would automatically renew for a term of one
month or more, businesses would further be required to notify
consumers by mail or email of the automatic renewal provision. Such
notice would need to be sent 30-60 days before the cancellation
deadline, and contain certain required disclosures. Importantly, if
the notice is provided by email, businesses would also need to
include an active weblink to allow the consumer to cancel the
automatic renewal.
