New York City in the United States has implemented a "click-to-cancel" rule designed to make it as easy to cancel online subscriptions as it is to sign up.

On Oct. 1, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection required companies offering auto-renewing or continuous subscription services to provide a simple cancellation process. New York City said it was the first U.S. local government to implement such a rule.

Under the new rule, companies must clearly inform consumers of subscription terms and consumer rights at sign-up and payment and at cancellation. If a consumer signed up on a website, the company must provide a simple way to cancel on the website, offering a cancellation method in the same way as sign-up. It also bans companies from making consumers pay shipping costs when retrieving items previously provided for free.

The DCWP will enforce the rule. Companies that violate it will face civil penalties starting at $525 per violation and may also have to refund charges already billed to affected consumers. New York City also opened a dedicated online complaint channel to report failures to disclose subscription terms, delayed cancellation and failure to disclose automatic renewal.

The system was prepared after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (조란 맘다니) directed a crackdown on subscription traps through an executive order in January. When the DCWP announced the final rules in July, it estimated New York residents bear costs of up to $162.5 million annually from practices that make it difficult to cancel.

The content is similar to a federal "click-to-cancel" rule pursued during the tenure of former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan (리나 칸). The FTC rule was finalised in 2024, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year invalidated it, saying required preliminary regulatory analysis was missing from the rulemaking process. The FTC is reviewing regulatory measures related to auto-renewal and subscription cancellations again this year.

With the New York City rules taking effect, local-government regulation has begun in earnest against so-called subscription traps in which signing up online is easy but cancellation is required by phone or in person.