The first city rule on subscriptions is in force.
Since October 1, 2026, a subscription sold to a New York City consumer has had to meet 6 RCNY 5-110.1, a rule the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection adopted in July. The city calls it the first municipal click-to-cancel rule in the nation. It does not replace New York State's automatic renewal law so much as sit on top of it with sharper edges.
DCWP's own notice says where. The rule "is fully consistent with the existing approach in the GBL, except that includes expanded or amended provisions relating to penalty amounts (in section 6-47), restitution (in section 5-110.2), and available mediums for cancelation (in section 5-110.1(d))." Those three exceptions are this post.
What is the NYC click-to-cancel rule?
Sections 5-110 through 5-110.3 of Title 6 of the Rules of the City of New York, plus a new row in the penalty chart at 6-47. DCWP proposed it April 8, 2026, held a hearing May 8, and the city announced the adopted rule July 10. It hangs off section 20-700 of the Administrative Code, the city's standing prohibition on deceptive and unconscionable trade practices: under 5-110.1(a) it is "a deceptive and unconscionable trade practice for any person to offer or provide an automatic renewal or continuous service to a consumer except in accordance with the requirements of this section."
DCWP "received more than 100 complaints from consumers related to the difficulty of cancelling subscriptions in 2025 alone", and the Mayor's Executive Order No. 10 of January 5, 2026 told it to prioritise enforcement against subscription practices. As of October 21, 2026 we found no reported enforcement action under the rule. Three weeks in force is a queue that has not cleared, not a grace period.
Does it apply to a brand outside New York?
The rule reaches "any person" who offers "an automatic renewal or continuous service to a consumer", and the notice says it "applies to a subscription for any type of goods or services" that meets its definitions. There is no size threshold and no revenue floor. If you ship subscribe-and-save orders or bill a monthly program to customers in the five boroughs, assume it reaches you and let counsel decide the rest. The exemptions at 5-110.3 are the regulated classes: holders of a franchise issued by a political subdivision of the state, meaning cable and utility operators rather than business-format franchisees; entities regulated by the Department of Financial Services; licensed alarm operators; banks and other financial institutions; and service contract sellers. A supplement brand, a med spa membership or a telehealth program is in none of them.
What does the cancel path have to look like?
5-110.1(c) will look familiar from the state law: "a simple cancellation mechanism that is as easy to use as the mechanism that the consumer used to provide consent and that is through the same medium that the consumer used to provide consent." 5-110.1(d) adds cancellation "through all mediums by which the business allows a consumer to provide affirmative consent", then the sentence inside the subdivision DCWP names as going beyond state law:
A med spa membership signed on paper at the front desk now owes a cancel path on the website or by email, not only a return visit.
Did New York City ban the save offer?
No, but the rule names it as a practice that can be unlawful, so the distinction has to be exact.
Subdivision (e) prohibits imposing "unreasonable or unlawful conditions upon, refuse to acknowledge, obstruct or unreasonably delay cancellation requests", then lists what counts. Paragraph (2) is the one that drew the comments, in full: "upon receiving a request to cancel, presenting the consumer with a discounted offer, retention benefit or information regarding the effect of cancellation if such offer, benefit, or presentation imposes unreasonable or unlawful conditions upon the consumer's ability to cancel, refusing to acknowledge, obstructing or unreasonably delaying the cancellation requested."
Read the conditional. The offer is lawful. The offer that stands between the customer and the exit is not. Industry commenters read the draft as a ban, and DCWP answered that the clause "is intended to be fully consistent with" GBL 527-a(1)(e)(ii) and that the final text "includes minor changes" to make that clear.
California gives the engineering answer: show the offer and, at the same time, "a prominently located and continuously and proximately displayed direct link or button" to cancel. New York City judges the result rather than the layout, so California's one-screen rule is the safest way to pass it.
What does a violation cost?
Penalties. The new row in 6-47 sets $525 for a first violation, $1,050 for a second and $3,500 for a third and subsequent violation, with the same amounts on default. GBL 527-a, for comparison, provides "a civil penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for a single violation" and "not more than five hundred dollars" for a knowing one. The city's first tier is more than five times the state's ordinary cap.
Restitution. 5-110.2 in full: "If a person is found to have violated any provision of this part, such person is liable for the monetary amount charged for the automatic renewal or continuous service offer after the consumer's first attempt at cancellation." Not after the violation was found. After the customer first tried. Every renewal that billed while a request sat in a queue or died behind a failed login is on that tab.
The unconditional gift. 5-110.1(f) carries the state's rule into city law: goods sent "without first obtaining the consumer's affirmative consent" are "for all purposes" deemed "an unconditional gift to the consumer", with no obligation to pay for them or to ship them back. If you cannot show the consent, you will struggle to show the shipment was not a gift.
Which notices does the rule require, and when?
- 5-110.1(g): an initial paid term of a year or longer that renews for six months or longer earns notice "at least fifteen days before, but not more than forty-five days before, the cancellation deadline".
- 5-110.1(h): any material change to the terms, "including any price increases", earns notice "at least five business days prior, but no more than thirty days prior, to the date of the change".
- 5-110.1(i): a free gift or trial "for a period of more than a month" followed by a charge earns notice "at least three days before but not more than twenty-one days before the cancellation deadline for the first chargeable period".
Each goes out "in the manner selected by the consumer, including text, email, app notification or any other notification channel offered by the business", and each "must include instructions on how to cancel".
California's trial clock is also 3 to 21 days and New York State's material change clock is also 5 business days to 30, and DCWP does not list the notices among its departures from state law. Georgia's 10-1-439.9(c) requires the material change notice with no timing at all. If your stack already fires those notices from real billing events, these are the same sends to a new jurisdiction.
Louisiana is next, and most of you are exempt
Louisiana's Click-to-Cancel Act, HB 750 of the 2026 Regular Session, Act No. 830, enacts R.S. 51:3301 through 3305 and "shall become effective on January 1, 2027." Its cancellation language at 51:3303(A)(7) shares Georgia's phrase, "a cost-effective, timely, and easy-to-use mechanism". Read 51:3305 before you build anything: the chapter "shall not apply to a person with fewer than fifty employees or with an annual gross revenue of less than five million dollars", counting "subsidiaries, parent companies, and affiliated companies". Most DTC brands and nearly every clinic reading this sit under one of those lines. A narrower clause at 51:3303(E)(5) exempts businesses under the same thresholds only from the notice requirements, and only if they comply with the chapter's disclosure, consent and cancellation provisions; the enrolled text does not reconcile the two, so have counsel confirm which controls. New York City has no threshold. The smallest subscription brand in Brooklyn is covered on day one.
What to change if you already comply with California and New York State
- Log every cancellation attempt with a timestamp, in whatever channel it arrives, and treat it as the start of your exposure under 5-110.2.
- Put the cancel control on the same screen as the save offer, California style, and make it work on first press.
- If you sign members up in person, add a website or email cancellation route.
- Confirm the three notices fire from billing events in the customer's chosen channel, each carrying cancellation instructions.
- Pull the consent record for a shipped renewal order. If you cannot, assume (f) is how a complaint will read it.
- Subscribe as a New York customer, cancel through the medium you signed up in, and count the charges that land before billing stops. That number, times the price, is the restitution exposure for one customer.
The repairs almost always sit in the plumbing between the storefront, the subscription app, the email platform and support. That is the work in CPG and ecommerce website development, and in Shopify and WordPress development when the platform is the question. For the baseline this rule builds on, start with what a subscription flow still needs after click-to-cancel was vacated, and for the state whose break is a missing offline door, why a cancel flow passes in California and fails in Georgia.
This is operational guidance, not legal advice. Automatic renewal law now varies by city as well as by state, and it keeps moving. Have qualified counsel review your offer, your disclosures and your cancellation flow before you launch or change them.
Common questions
Is New York City's click-to-cancel rule in effect?
Yes. 6 RCNY 5-110.1 took effect October 1, 2026. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection proposed it April 8, 2026, held a hearing May 8, and the city announced the adopted rule July 10. It makes offering an automatic renewal or continuous service to a consumer other than in accordance with the rule a deceptive and unconscionable trade practice under section 20-700 of the Administrative Code. The city describes it as the first municipal rule of its kind in the country.
Does the NYC rule ban save offers when a customer cancels?
No. 5-110.1(e)(2) names as an unreasonable condition presenting a discounted offer, retention benefit or information about the effect of cancellation only if that presentation imposes unreasonable or unlawful conditions on the ability to cancel, refuses to acknowledge, obstructs or unreasonably delays the cancellation. DCWP says the clause is intended to be fully consistent with New York General Business Law 527-a(1)(e)(ii). The offer is lawful; the offer the customer has to get past is not.
What are the penalties under NYC's click-to-cancel rule?
The amended penalty chart at 6 RCNY 6-47 sets $525 for a first violation, $1,050 for a second and $3,500 for a third and subsequent violation, with the same amounts on default. Separately, 5-110.2 makes a violator liable for the monetary amount charged for the subscription after the consumer's first attempt at cancellation. By comparison, New York State's 527-a provides a civil penalty of not more than $100 for a single violation and not more than $500 for a knowing one.
Under NYC's click-to-cancel rule, what does liability for charges after the first cancellation attempt mean in practice?
The rule says only that a violator is liable for the amount charged after the consumer's first attempt at cancellation. Our reading: every renewal charge that lands between the moment a customer first tries to cancel and the moment billing actually stops is an amount the business can be ordered to return. A request sitting in a support queue, a callback that never came or a login the customer could not complete would all count from the first attempt, not from when the business processed it. That makes the timestamp of the first attempt the most important record in the cancel flow.
Which notices does the NYC rule require, and when?
Three. For an initial paid term of a year or longer that renews for six months or longer, notice 15 to 45 days before the cancellation deadline. For any material change including a price increase, notice 5 business days to 30 days before the change. For a free gift or trial longer than a month followed by a charge, notice 3 to 21 days before the cancellation deadline for the first chargeable period. Each goes in the channel the consumer selected and must include instructions on how to cancel.
Does Louisiana's Click-to-Cancel Act apply to a small DTC brand?
Probably not. Act 830 of 2026, R.S. 51:3301 through 3305, takes effect January 1, 2027, and 51:3305 says the chapter shall not apply to a person with fewer than fifty employees or with annual gross revenue of less than five million dollars, counting subsidiaries, parents and affiliates together. A second, narrower clause at 51:3303(E)(5) exempts businesses under the same thresholds only from the notice requirements, and only if they comply with the chapter's disclosure, consent and cancellation provisions. The enrolled text does not reconcile the two. Have counsel confirm which controls, but most brands under either threshold will find Louisiana is not theirs.
Sources
- NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Notice of Adoption, Click to Cancel rule, 6 RCNY 5-110 through 5-110.3 and the 6-47 penalty chart checked 2026-10-21
- Office of the Mayor, press release announcing the Click-to-Cancel rule, July 10, 2026 checked 2026-10-21
- Louisiana HB 750, Act No. 830, 2026 Regular Session, enrolled, enacting R.S. 51:3301 through 3305 checked 2026-10-21
- Louisiana Legislature, resume digest of Act 830 (HB 750) checked 2026-10-21
- New York General Business Law 527-a, unlawful practices, penalties checked 2026-10-21
- California Business and Professions Code 17602, trial notice, save offer and termination exclusively online checked 2026-10-21
- O.C.G.A. 10-1-439.8, Georgia's cancellation mechanisms, including the cost-effective, timely and easy-to-use phrase checked 2026-10-21
- O.C.G.A. 10-1-439.9, Georgia's material change notice, which carries no timing checked 2026-10-21
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