Source date: 2026-07-20
Close Are you interested in this topic?
Receive an email as soon as an article is published by the editorial team on: Consumer (insurance, management, savings, credit, rates, disputes, sales, etc.)
Close This topic has been added to your alerts
You will receive an email as soon as an article is published by the editorial team on: Consumer (insurance, management, savings, credit, rates, disputes, sales, etc.).
You can unsubscribe at any time in my account > my alerts.
From August 11, 2026
Telemarketing banned: what are the new rules? Published on July 21, 2026 - Updated on August 11, 2026 - Service Public / Direction of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister's Office)
As of August 11, 2026, telemarketing for commercial purposes is banned, except in certain cases. Service Public presents the changes.
Image 1 Credits: Krakenimages.com - stock.adobe.com
Telemarketing before August 11, 2026 Before August 11, 2026, unsolicited telemarketing by telephone, SMS, email or through social media was prohibited for professionals in a few sectors of activity, such as energy renovation as well as the adaptation of housing for disabled and elderly persons.
To prevent any telephone solicitation from companies in other sectors of activity, it was possible to register your number on the free Bloctel service. All professionals were prohibited from conducting telephone solicitation to any person registered on the Bloctel list, except in certain situations provided for by the Consumer Code.
What changes as of August 11, 2026 Since August 11, telemarketing is prohibited in principle for companies in all sectors of activity. A company may contact a person by telephone for telemarketing only in the following 2 cases:
-
The call concerns an ongoing contract, and the solicitation is related to the purpose of that contract. For example, a company may propose to one of its customers additional products or services, or an offer aimed at improving the service provided or its performance.
-
The company in question has previously obtained the consumer's consent to be solicited for commercial prospecting. Consent must be expressed in a "free" and "informed" manner, and "through a clear positive action".
A consumer's consent to be solicited for possible telephone marketing may be collected during a purchase, a store visit, or via a form, for example. In collecting this consent, the company must clearly ask the consumer whether or not he or she consents to being contacted by telephone for commercial purposes, and must specify the nature of the goods or services for which his or her consent is requested.
The company must also inform the consumer of the duration for which they consent to being solicited by telephone. This duration may not exceed, in any case, one year; and their consent cannot be renewed implicitly. A person may at any time decide to withdraw their consent to be solicited, and thus prohibit a company from contacting them again for commercial solicitation. The methods allowing a consumer to withdraw their consent must be simple (this action can even be accomplished orally only).
When calling a consumer, companies must comply with the authorized days and times for telemarketing. As a reminder, telemarketing is permitted only Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.; and it is prohibited on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
A company may only deviate from these obligations if a person has explicitly consented to being called on a date and time outside the authorized periods for telemarketing; the date and time must have been specifically indicated to them.
Any contract concluded, since August 11, following a telemarketing call that does not comply with the new requirements is not valid.
It is up to professionals to prove that consent is collected in compliance with the established rules ("a manifestation of free, specific, informed, unambiguous and revocable will [...]").
If a person is subjected to abusive telemarketing, they can report it on the Signal Conso platform, a service of the General Directorate of Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF).
The Consumer Code provides, moreover, that the prohibition on telemarketing does not apply to prospecting related to the sale of subscriptions to newspapers, periodicals or magazines.
Since telemarketing is prohibited by default, the Bloctel service ceased to exist on August 11, 2026.
Legislation and References
See also
-
Abusive telemarketing, voice spam or SMS: what can you do? Service Public
-
Sale of financial services: new rules to protect consumers from June 19 Service Public
-
Telemarketing: phone number display rules are changing Service Public
-
Telemarketing rules applicable to businesses General Directorate of Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF)
Schedule
-
Starting September 1, 2026 Energy renovation MaPrimeRénov': certain projects to soon be excluded from the scheme Published August 27, 2026
-
Starting September 1, 2026 Pension reform Early retirement in a long career: what will your rights be from September 2026? Published July 17, 2026
Source: Service-Public professionals