Tue, Aug 25, 2026 page3

• Automatic subscription renewals to be banned

  REGULATION: Businesses must provide users with sufficient and accurate information about how to subscribe to and cancel digital subscription services, the Cabinet said

  • By Chung Li-hua and Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
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  The government would soon require digital service providers to stop automatically renewing subscriptions, and allow users to manually select and confirm renewals by checking a clearly labeled box, the Executive Yuan said yesterday.

  The issue was first raised by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Liao Hsien-hsiang (廖先翔).

  The use of digital subscription systems has expanded from streaming media to other services, but service providers often design user interfaces in such ways that make it easy to subscribe but difficult to cancel subscriptions, Liao said.

  

  The Ministry of Digital Affairs in Taipei is pictured in an undated photograph.

  Photo: Hsu Tzu-ling, Taipei Times

  Service providers hide automatic subscription renewal clauses in the contract, having the consent box pre-ticked and complicating the subscription cancelation procedures, he said.

  People could unknowingly sustain financial losses this way, and have no recourse for the problem as many of the digital service providers are based overseas, he said, adding that the Executive Yuan should propose solutions within one month.

  The Cabinet said that the Ministry of Digital Affairs could amend the Mandatory and Prohibited Clauses for Standard Contracts in Online Retail Transactions (零售業等網路交易定型化契約應記載及不得記載事項) to address the problem.

  The amendment would require businesses to clearly disclose important information, including the renewal period, fees and cancelation procedures, before consumers agree to a subscription, it said.

  Businesses would be prohibited from using pre-ticked boxes or other mechanisms presuming users’ consent to automatic payments, and must provide a clearly labeled box for them to manually check and confirm their consent, the Cabinet said.

  Cancelation procedures must be as convenient as the subscription process, it added.

  A new provision in the contract would prohibit businesses from including terms that presume consumers’ consent to automatic subscription renewals and charges, and oblige them to separately notify users before an automatic renewal payment is charged, it said.

  If a business conceals such information, it may be fined NT$50,000 to NT$25 million (US$1,570 to US$784,831) under Article 42 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法). If the business fails to correct the issue by the given deadline, it may be fined NT$100,000 to NT$50 million per contravention, the Executive Yuan said.

  Businesses must provide consumers with sufficient and accurate information about how to subscribe to, pay for and cancel digital subscription services, as required under the Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法), it said.

  If the terms are presented in a way that makes them difficult for users to notice or understand, the terms do not constitute part of the contract under Article 12 of the Enforcement Rules of Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法施行細則), and consumers may claim that they are not bound by them, it added.
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