France bans cold-call marketing without prior consumer consent

France started requiring prior consumer consent for telephone marketing on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, shutting down unsolicited cold calls across every sector. Under the new rule, companies can only place sales calls if they can prove the person being contacted gave explicit permission.

The change is rooted in Law n° 2025-594 of June 30, 2025, a fraud-fighting measure backed by President Emmanuel Macron's government. Officials framed the move as protection against intrusive sales pitches and fraudulent commercial practices, especially for people who are more vulnerable to pressure from persistent callers.

The scale of the problem helped drive the ban. Associated Press reporting said authorities estimated that about three-quarters of people in France receive at least one unsolicited sales call every week, and many receive more. France has now shifted telemarketing from an opt-out system to an opt-in one, reversing the burden so callers must show permission before the pitch begins.

The new model is tougher than the familiar do-not-call registers used elsewhere. In the United Kingdom, the Telephone Preference Service lets people opt out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls. In the United States, the National Do Not Call Registry gives consumers a choice about whether to receive telemarketing calls. Australia also runs a Do Not Call Register for people who want to reduce unwanted telemarketing. France’s rule goes further by barring calls unless consent has already been obtained, a standard that leaves less room for marketers to work around a suppression list.

That difference could matter in practice. Cold-call campaigns often rely on volume and the assumption that enough people will answer, listen and buy. By forcing businesses to document explicit consent first, France has put compliance at the center of the phone-marketing business and raised the stakes for companies that try to evade the ban through vague permissions or old contact lists.