Good news! The National Assembly has just adopted a bill aimed at prohibiting any canvassing as long as the consumer has not given his consent. You will finally be quiet!
It is soon the end of a real nightmare! The National Assembly has just adopted a bill aimed at prohibiting any canvassing as long as the consumer has not given his consent. And as much to say that this decision was expected to be firmly, given the abusive canvassing that we have been undergoing continuously for years. A customer service which calls every day at improbable hours, an organization which contacts you after you have used an insurance comparator, but also the scams that ask us to renew our vital card by SMS … put end to end, all the demarchages pollute our daily life and can prove to be frankly painful in the long run. And even if the government has taken measures to limit the inconvenience, the problem is far from being resolved.
Fortunately, Senator Pierre-Jean Verzelen (the self-employed) decided, in November 2024, to seize the subject in order to vote a law allowing to get rid of it definitively. Its objective is to strengthen existing tools: “The idea is to reverse the situation and adopt as a principle that each Frenchman is considered to be opposed to being approached by phone” he explained in an interview with Ouest-France.
After being adopted unanimously in the Senate, the bill, which plans to ban any telephone canvassing without the prior agreement of the consumer from January 1, 2026, won the unanimous membership of the National Assembly on March 6, 2025, where it was carried by the deputy Pascal Lecamp (MoDem).
Telephone canvassing: a practice always as invasive
According to a survey carried out by the UFC-Que Choose in October 2024, 97 % of French people declared themselves annoyed by commercial canvassing. Faced with the abuses of professionals and the complaints of consumers and associations, the government had already taken measures in order to limit the problems linked to canvassing. So, from the 1er January 2023, the arcep (the telecoms gendarme) prohibits using numbers starting with 06 and 07 for canvassing, these prefixes being associated in the minds of people with mobile phones. They are therefore supposed to be reserved for individuals. The directs must now use dedicated numbers so as not to deceive the consumer (see our article).
Finally, that is in theory. It turns out that commercial canvassing from mobile numbers in 06 or 07 is authorized under certain conditions, and precisely when professionals who use their mobile number act as unique natural persons, and this,, “Whatever the purpose of the call or message”. In any case, 60 % of companies controlled by the DGCCRF do not comply with the regulations. So we are currently far from getting rid of this practice! And that is without counting the notorious ineffectiveness of the Bloctel system!
Telephone canvassing: consent at the heart of the debate
The bill aims to oblige professionals to obtain the prior “consent” of all consumers before they can call them, and, on a case -by -case basis. Article 1 of the bill adopted in the National Assembly is very clear: it “Forbidden to canvass telephone”, directly or indirectly, “a consumer who has not expressed his consent beforehand to be the subject of commercial prospecting”.
Pierre-Jean Verzelen’s text initially proposed to create a “dedicated consent list”a system that has proven itself in many European countries, in the forefront of which Germany, England or Portugal. However, given that this measure raised a doubt about its compatibility with the European regulation on personal data (GDPR), the Senate had finally folded up on a more measured device, with alignment on the electronic canvassing diet.
Telephone canvassing: some exceptions that make debate
In addition to consumer consent, other exceptions appear for this ban: when the consumer “explicitly agreed to be approached by registering on a consent list”when canvassing “Intervenes as part of the execution of an in progress contract and has a relationship with the subject of this contract”and finally when he “Carries out the supply of newspapers, periodicals or magazines”.
To limit the bypass of this new regime, the bill prohibits companies from conditioning the purchase of a property or service to consent to canvassing. “It is obvious that clever little ones will try by all means to obtain that their customers consent to canvassing”had alerted senator Mélanie Vogel at the time. Other restrictive measures have also been adopted, such as reducing frequency and call schedules authorized for canvassing, or strengthening sanctions for abuse of weakness committed within the framework of this practice.
However, a point has aroused tensions: an exemption for canvassing in connection with the sale or home delivery of foodstuffs or products intended for the food of pets. This exception was added by deputies in support of rural companies and isolated people. To justify this choice, Stéphane Rambaud (RN) cites the activity of Argel, a “Proximity company” Who “For 60 years for the book of food and basic necessities to 270,000 customers, a majority of seniors who live in rural areas”and of which 95 % of the activity is done via telephone prospecting. As for Mélanie Thomin (PS), she believes that companies like Thiriet or Argel are popular in areas where people “of a certain generation”not very mobile, have a “Poor control of the digital tool “ And communicate mainly using a fixed phone. But some deputies fear that this article will benefit the entire agrifood sector, or even platforms like Amazon, which also sells food and animal kibbles …
End of canvassing: a long process to be undertaken
Eleven associations had signed an open letter For this bill to be adopted, namely ADEIC (Association of Defense and Information of Consumer), AFOC (Association Force Ouvrière Consumer), the ALLDC (Léo Lagrange association for the defense of consumers), the CLCV (Confederation Housing Living Executive), the CNAFAL (National Council of Laïc Family Associations), the CSF (Union Confederation of Families), Rural families) The UFC-Que Choisir, the ULCC (LAIC Union of City Consumers) and the UNAF (National Union of Family Associations).
To open the way to a default ban on these practices would be a good thing “In order to finally cut short the scourge of unwanted calls, guarantee a right to the tranquility of consumers and better protect them in the face of scams and consumption disputes”. UFC-Que Choisir greets a “major advance “,, Even if the thing is far from being acted. And she intends to maintain pressure on parliamentarians! “We categorically refuse any attempt to bypass the text. No sectoral exception should allow companies to bypass the prohibition. UFC-Que Choisir therefore calls on deputies to vote for this law in its most protective version”she wrote the day before the vote in the Assembly.
In addition to certain exemptions, deputies have reviewed the text in order to strengthen the sanctions against abuse, which will be able to set up up to five years’ imprisonment, 500,000 euros fine for a natural person and 20 % of the average annual turnover for a company. . The version voted in the National Assembly not being identical to that of the Senate, the text must now return to the senators, where it will be discussed again and must be voted in the same terms, after which the government will have to publish a decree. It is only after this process that the law can apply.