Colorado’s automatic renewal law, codified at C.R.S. 6-1-732, requires any business selling subscriptions or continuous-service contracts to Colorado consumers to disclose renewal terms clearly before signup, send a written acknowledgment after purchase, deliver renewal reminders in a fixed window before each renewal, offer a simple cancellation process, and cap automatic renewals at one year absent express written consent. Civil penalties run up to $20,000 per affected consumer, and each consumer counts as a separate violation.
What You Must Disclose Before Signup
Before a consumer agrees to an automatic renewal contract, five terms have to appear in a “clear and conspicuous” form: that the contract will automatically renew or extend, a description of the cancellation policy, any recurring charges to the consumer’s card or payment account, the length of each renewal term, and any minimum purchase obligation.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
“Clear and conspicuous” is a defined term, not a suggestion. Written disclosures must use one of three formats: type larger than the surrounding text; a different font, style, or color from surrounding text of the same size; or symbols or marks that visually set the disclosure apart. For phone offers, the terms must be spoken at a volume and pace easy to hear and understand, close in time to when consent is requested.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
If you route consumers to the full renewal terms through a link rather than displaying them on the purchase page, the link must be available before the consumer clicks “buy,” it must sit right next to the purchase button, and it must be labeled with (or placed directly beside) a clear notice that buying means enrolling in an automatic renewal contract.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
Free Trials and Introductory Offers
Trials that convert to paid subscriptions carry an extra layer of requirements. When a trial is offered as an inducement to purchase, the business must clearly disclose the price the consumer will be charged once the trial ends and any further purchase obligations that follow. Those disclosures use the same clear-and-conspicuous formatting rules.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
The written acknowledgment that follows a trial-period purchase must explain how to cancel, and the business has to give the consumer a chance to cancel before any payment is due. Burying the post-trial price in a terms-of-service page, or letting the trial roll into paid billing without a clear heads-up, violates the statute even where the consumer technically agreed to the initial terms.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
The Written Acknowledgment After Purchase
Once the consumer signs up, the business must send a written acknowledgment that the consumer can save or print. It must restate the automatic renewal offer terms, the cancellation policy, and cancellation instructions. For trial-period offers, it must also explain how to cancel before the trial converts to paid.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
The statute uses the phrase “capable of being retained by the consumer.” A confirmation email meets that standard for online businesses. A pop-up that disappears after checkout does not.
Renewal Reminders and the 25–40 Day Window
Before each automatic renewal, the business has to send a reminder telling the consumer the contract will renew unless canceled and explaining how to cancel. The notice must go out between 25 and 40 days before the renewal date, and it must clearly identify who is sending it.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
Short billing cycles get a modified rule. For renewals of less than 12 months (monthly or quarterly plans, for example), a notice is not required before every renewal. Instead, at least one notice must go out in the 25-to-40-day window before the first renewal that would push the contract past a continuous 12-month period, and at least one notice must go out in that same window before each subsequent renewal.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
In practice: if you sell a monthly subscription and a customer has been subscribed for 11 months, you need to send a renewal notice before month 12, and again before each renewal after that.
Cancellation and the One-Year Cap
The cancellation process has to be simple, cost-effective, timely, easy to use, and readily accessible. Two safe harbors satisfy that standard automatically:
- A one-step online cancellation link on the business’s website, in an app, or in an email to the consumer. A reasonable identity-verification step is allowed, but nothing more.
- In-person cancellation at a physical location where the consumer regularly uses the service, such as a gym or studio.
Cancellation routes that push consumers through multi-step phone trees, require written letters, or impose waiting periods risk violating this provision even when cancellation is technically possible.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
Automatic renewal terms cannot exceed one year unless the consumer gives express written consent for a longer term. A pre-checked box or a buried clause will not lock a customer into a two-year auto-renewal.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
Businesses That Are Exempt
Several categories fall outside C.R.S. 6-1-732 because they already operate under separate regulatory frameworks: services provided under a franchise from a Colorado political subdivision or a license from the Public Utilities Commission; services regulated by the FCC, FERC, or the state Public Utilities Commission; entities regulated by the Colorado Division of Insurance; state- or federally licensed banks, bank holding companies, credit unions, and other financial institutions, including subsidiaries and affiliates; and air carriers regulated under federal aviation law.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
Penalties and Who Enforces the Statute
Enforcement of C.R.S. 6-1-732 belongs to the Colorado Attorney General and district attorneys. Consumers cannot bring a direct enforcement action under the statute itself.1Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-732 – Automatic Renewal Contracts – Unlawful Acts – Required Disclosures – Right to Cancel – Trial Period Offers – Exemptions – Definitions
The civil penalty runs up to $20,000 per violation, and each affected consumer or transaction counts as a separate violation. Violations targeting elderly consumers carry a higher ceiling of up to $50,000 each.2Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-112 – Civil Penalties
Consumer Lawsuits Through the Consumer Protection Act
The exclusive-enforcement language in C.R.S. 6-1-732 does not close the courthouse door to consumers. Under C.R.S. 6-1-113, any consumer injured by a deceptive trade practice listed in Article 1 of Title 6 can file a private lawsuit, and a failure to comply with the automatic renewal law could qualify as a deceptive trade practice.3Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-113 – Civil Actions
The damages a private plaintiff can recover under 6-1-113 are what make these cases attractive:
- Actual damages, plus prejudgment interest at 8% per year or the statutory rate, whichever is higher.
- A minimum recovery of $500, even where actual damages are lower.
- Treble damages if the consumer proves bad faith (fraudulent, willful, knowing, or intentional conduct) by clear and convincing evidence.
- Attorney fees and costs to a successful plaintiff.
In class actions, successful plaintiffs can recover actual damages, injunctive relief, and reasonable attorney fees and costs.3Justia. Colorado Code 6-1-113 – Civil Actions
The Federal Overlay: ROSCA and the FTC Rule
Selling subscriptions online in Colorado also means complying with federal law. The Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act prohibits charging consumers through a negative option feature unless the business clearly discloses all material terms before collecting billing information and obtains express informed consent. ROSCA requires an additional affirmative action, such as clicking a confirmation button or checking a box, for post-transaction third-party sales.4Congress.gov. Public Law 111-345 – Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act
The FTC’s Negative Option Rule, finalized in late 2024, adds a symmetry requirement: cancellation has to be at least as easy to use as signup. For online or phone enrollments, cancellation must work in the same medium and take no more time or effort than signing up. For in-person or mail enrollments, the seller must offer at least one remote cancellation method, such as a website, email, or toll-free number.5Federal Register. Negative Option Rule
Colorado’s cancellation rules largely align with the FTC’s, but the federal “at least as easy” standard can be more demanding in specific situations. Meeting the strictest applicable requirement will generally satisfy both.
Practical Compliance
Most businesses that get in trouble under this statute have the broad strokes right and miss the details. Displaying renewal terms somewhere on the checkout page is not enough if those terms blend into the surrounding text instead of meeting the clear-and-conspicuous formatting rules. Sending a renewal notice is not enough if it goes out 20 days before renewal instead of the required 25.
The statute does not require documentation, but documentation is the only way to defend an enforcement action. Keep records of how and when each consumer agreed to the renewal terms, copies of the written acknowledgments sent, and logs showing when renewal notices went out. If your cancellation flow is online, save screenshots or archived versions. Without that record, a business has little to work with when the AG’s office asks how it complied.
Audit the cancellation process against the signup process. If a consumer can sign up in two clicks but has to call a phone number, wait on hold, and speak to a retention specialist to cancel, that route is neither simple nor easy to use under Colorado law. The safest path is the statute’s own safe harbor: a one-step online cancellation link with nothing more than a basic identity check.