Germany, cancellation button and auto-renewal limits for online consumer contracts (sections 312k and 309 no. 9 BGB)

What it requires

Section 312k of the German Civil Code requires traders who allow consumers to enter continuing-obligation contracts through a website to provide a cancellation button that lets them terminate in the same medium; it has applied since 1 July 2022. Section 309 no. 9 limits the terms on which such contracts may run and renew automatically. The Federal Court of Justice extended the cancellation-button duty to fixed-term and one-off-payment offers in a judgment of 22 May 2025 (I ZR 161/24), as reported by Legal Tribune Online and the law firm Noerr. Compliance has been weak: a vzbv study in 2023 found only 42% of the traders it examined compliant.

Why it bears on this field

Vertical-drama apps monetise through auto-renewing weekly and annual subscriptions alongside coin bundles. Billing complaints — subscriptions that cannot be located or cancelled, and charges continuing after a cancellation attempt — recur in app-store reviews of the category, but they are user allegations rather than established findings, and no regulator or consumer body has been reported acting on them. The rules therefore bear on the category as standing law rather than through any reported enforcement.

Open questions

• How do the cancellation-button rules apply where the contract is concluded and cancelled inside an app store's own subscription management rather than on the trader's website?
• Will a German or Austrian consumer body take up coin pricing or cancellation practice in microdrama apps?

Timeline

• 2022-07-01The cancellation-button requirement under section 312k BGB takes effect. Source (opens in a new tab)
• 2025-05-22The Federal Court of Justice rules that the cancellation button is required even for fixed-term and one-off-payment offers (I ZR 161/24), as reported by Legal Tribune Online and the law firm Noerr.