Crackdown law on nuisance cold calls in France backed by MPs

The French parliament has unanimously adopted a law that aims to stop unsolicited telemarketing calls that are made without prior consent.

The bill, called the ‘loi pour un démarchage téléphonique consenti (bill on consent for telephone canvassing)’ was adopted in the Senate four months ago, and was adopted unanimously (176 votes in favour) in the Assemblée Nationale yesterday (March 6).

The bill will now need to be approved as final legislation by the Senate, with any final changes or amendments made before the bill passes. The rules are then set to come into force on January 1, 2026.

Read also: Debate begins on new law to crack down on telemarketing calls in France 

‘A kind of micro-aggression’

“Telephone canvassing wears down our fellow citizens…More than 90% of French people are exasperated by this practice at a time when we receive an average of six unwanted calls per week,” said Véronique Louwagie, Minister Delegate for Trade, in support of the text, reports Actu.fr.

Rapporteur of the bill, Pascal Lecamp, MP for Les Démocrates de la Vienne, said that receiving repeated unwanted sales calls was “a kind of micro-aggression”.

What does the bill stipulate?

The MPs were largely in agreement about much of the proposed legislation in debates yesterday.

This includes new rules that will state:

• Companies will require consent even before the first call, to ensure that only those who really want to be contacted will be called

• People will need to “opt in” to receive calls (either via a form or a ‘tick box’ online or by post), rather than to opt out later

• The existing Bloctel system is inefficient, and stronger consumer consent is needed

• Canvassers will only be able to call people if they have explicitly indicated - online or by post, for example - to a company that they wish to be contacted. It is then up to the company to send these lists of numbers to the telephone operators

• There will be stronger legislation in the sector, including tougher sanctions against companies that violate the rules, including increasing the maximum fines possible for callers who abuse the trust of vulnerable callers, such as the elderly and disabled 

• Landline numbers will not be registered automatically by public directories

• Information of people or companies that breach the rules can be shared between data protection agency CNIL, communications authority ARCEP, and the consumer fraud office DGCCRF

• The maximum fine for breaking these rules will increase from €375,000 to €500,000 for an individual, up to 20% of the company’s annual turnover for a company, and five years in prison.

Did the MPs agree on every point?

No - there were lively debates around the proposed exemptions to the bill. 

One contentious point was the suggestion to allow companies that supply local “foodstuffs” in the “context of a sale or home delivery” to bypass some of the telephone rules.

This exemption had been presented as a way of “preserving local French services”, and one company - Argel, based in Finistère - was cited by MPs in Brittany as one local supplier that heavily relies on telephone calls to find new customers (although it can also take online orders).

Mélanie Thomin (Socialist party) stressed what she called “the importance of these [services for] the oldest and most vulnerable populations in rural areas”, and said it would be “impossible for [food delivery companies such as Argel] to transform or adapt the economic model of their business quickly”.

However, not all MPs agreed with the exemption idea.

Delphine Batho (green party) disagreed, saying: “This is not a solution.” She said that the wording of the exemption could eventually lead to companies finding loopholes in a way that was not intended, including - she said - the entire agri-food sector, or even major companies such as Amazon.

Other companies to ask for an exemption to the rule include polling agencies, as they say they call people to ask them to take part in major surveys, rather than to sell products.

Consumer response

The law has already been welcomed by some consumer associations.

“This law is a crucial step forward for consumers,” said Marie-Amandine Stévenin, president of UFC-Que Choisir, to Ouest France. “It finally provides a clear and effective response to telephone harassment.”

A report by bill rapporteur Mr Lecamp stated that 97% of people in France say they are annoyed by telephone canvassing, and a study by consumer group UFC-Que Choisir recently found that 72% say they are called at least once a week, while 38% report being called every day.

Existing systems designed to help - including Bloctel, a database that is supposed to prevent unwanted calls - do not work effectively, both MPs and associations state.

What are the current rules on cold calling (before this new bill)?

Current rules - introduced by laws including the loi Hamon of 2014 and the loi Naegelen of 2020 - state:

• Calls can only be made between 10:00 and 13:00, and between 14:00 and 20:00 from Monday to Friday

• A marketing professional may only contact someone a maximum of four times per month

• Callers must introduce themselves at the start of the call and ask for permission to continue

• Call recipients can opt out from receiving calls and ask not to be contacted, if a company calls

• The same caller cannot call within the next 60 days once you have said you are not interested

• Marketing callers cannot call from a number beginning with 06 or 07

• Marketers in mainland France can only use numbers starting with 0162, 0163, 0270, 0271, 0377, 0378, 0424, 0425, 0568, 0569, 0948 and 0949

• Unhappy recipients can note down the number of the caller, and report them to DGCCRF.

Read more: How to check if an incoming call is from a cold caller in France
Read also: How can I stop nuisance cold callers phoning my house in France?

Call recipients can calmly point out errors to the caller if they make them. For example, if they call outside the legal hours, or if they start the call without asking for your permission to continue or not.