You own a property rated F or G on its DPE (Diagnostic de Performance Énergétique — the French EPC), and your phone has been ringing for months: one-euro insulation, subsidised heat pumps, a "free energy audit". You may also have received text messages, emails, even social media messages. What most owners do not know is that these approaches are illegal — and that they became illegal well before 11 August 2026, the date the French press announced as "the end of cold calling".
Two separate regimes now coexist, and confusing them is expensive. The first, general one has required prior consent for any commercial call since 11 August 2026. The second, sector-specific one simply bans marketing approaches about energy renovation — by phone since 2020, and across every electronic channel since 2 July 2025. In that second case your consent changes nothing: the call remains illegal even if you ticked a box.
€375,000 — the administrative fine a company faces for approaching you unlawfully, on top of which the contract signed as a result of the call is void (Articles L. 242-16 and L. 242-16-1 of the French Consumer Code).
What this article covers
The two overlapping bans and their real effective dates, what French law actually means by "energy renovation", the six statements a form must display for your consent to be valid, the one calling window still open for this sector, and the concrete remedies available if you are approached anyway.
Two bans, two dates: do not confuse them
Article 13 of Law no. 2025-594 of 30 June 2025 — whose exact title is "law against all forms of public aid fraud" — rewrote two articles of the Consumer Code, on two different timetables. That dual entry into force explains the general confusion.
| Regime | Provision | In force since | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| General — prior consent for phone calls | Art. L. 223-1 | 11 August 2026 | All sectors. The call is lawful if you gave compliant consent, or if a contract is running. |
| Sector-specific — energy renovation, phone | Art. L. 223-1, para. 5 | 2020 (Law no. 2020-901) | Ban. Consent is inoperative. |
| Sector-specific — energy renovation, electronic channels | Art. L. 223-8 | 2 July 2025 | Email, SMS, messaging apps, social media. Ban. Only exception: a running contract. |
In other words: if the subject of the approach is the energy renovation of your home, there is no lawful electronic channel to reach you. No call, no email, no text, no direct message. And this dates back to summer 2025 for written channels, and to 2020 for the phone — not to August 2026.
What French law classes as "energy renovation"
Article L. 223-8 covers marketing approaches "whose object is the offer of services, the sale of equipment or the carrying out of works relating to dwellings with a view to achieving energy savings, producing renewable energy, or adapting them to ageing or disability".
Three observations matter for an owner. First, the test is one of purpose, not vocabulary: a call that talks about "comfort improvement" or "adding value to your property" but leads to a proposal for energy-saving works falls squarely within scope. Second, the 2025 law added services to the list, which captures intangibles — energy audits, project support, grant applications. Third, adaptation for ageing and disability now sits under the same regime.
What disappeared on 11 August 2026: Bloctel
Articles L. 223-3 and L. 223-4, which governed the Bloctel opt-out list, were repealed. The logic has flipped: you no longer register to refuse, a company must obtain your agreement to call. In practice, the absence of an objection is no longer permission, and a company telling you your number "is not on Bloctel" is invoking a register that no longer exists.
⚠️ Warning: several prospect-data vendors were still advertising "Bloctel compliance" on their commercial websites at the end of August 2026. That claim has carried no legal weight since 11 August.
What valid consent looks like
Decree no. 2026-662 of 23 July 2026 created Articles R. 223-1 to R. 223-4 of the Consumer Code. It sets out precisely what a form must display before you accept. Six elements are required.
| Required statement | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Identity of the company | The name of the business that will call must be written out. "Our partners" is not enough. |
| Goods or services concerned | What the future calls will be about, not a generic formula. |
| Explicit phone opt-in | Separate from email and SMS: a blanket "all channels" consent is invalid. |
| Period of validity | One year maximum, running from the moment consent is collected — not from the last contact. |
| Right of withdrawal and how to use it | How to change your mind, and by what means. |
| Access to the proof | How to obtain a record of what you agreed to. |
The company must keep these records for three years in digital form, and provide you with a free copy on a durable medium if you ask. Do not confuse the two periods: three years of record-keeping, but a maximum of one year of permission to call. After that the consent lapses and cannot renew automatically.
What does not count as consent
The decree expressly rules out several practices. A pre-ticked box or a pre-filled document is not a positive act. Merely continuing to browse a website is not either. Blanket consent covering "all channels" or "all our partners" fails the specificity requirement.
Two points deserve emphasis, because they run counter to intuition. First, a phone number published in a property listing is not consent: publishing a listing invites offers from buyers, it does not authorise commercial approaches. Second, consent is personal and non-transferable: it must be traceable to the company actually placing the call. A purchased contact list does not carry the right to call you.
The one window left open: a callback within five working days
Article R. 223-4, created by the same decree, opens a narrow valve — and it applies precisely to the banned sectors, energy renovation among them. A company may call you back if you yourself asked for information, subject to three cumulative conditions:
- it can evidence that your request was real;
- the call is made within five working days of that request;
- the call concerns only the goods or services you asked about.
This window is often presented as a general exception to French cold-calling rules. It is not: the text states that it is made "for the application of the fifth paragraph of Article L. 223-1", meaning only for products whose marketing is banned. Under the general regime, filling in a form does not buy five days: either it collects compliant consent, valid for up to a year, or the call is unlawful.
What if a contract is already running?
Article L. 223-1 permits contact "in the course of performing a running contract" where it "relates to the object of that contract". Three conditions apply together: the contract must be live — signed and not terminated — it must be with the company placing the call, and the call must concern its subject matter. A signed sale mandate lets an agency call you about that sale; it does not let them sell you renovation works.
Hours, frequency and withdrawal
Even with valid consent, a company remains bound by Article D. 223-9: calls are permitted Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 8pm, excluding public holidays, and no more than four approaches in any 30 calendar days, across all numbers. The cap counts attempts: an unanswered call or a voicemail message counts towards it.
Withdrawal is governed by Article R. 223-3: it must be possible at any time, by means "no more complex than those used to obtain it". Verbal withdrawal is valid, including mid-call. Saying "do not call me again" is enough, and Article L. 221-16 then requires the caller to end the call without delay and refrain from any further contact.
What to do now: if you receive an energy renovation call, ask for the exact company name, the date and the source of your supposed consent, then demand a copy of the proof — that is a free entitlement. Then report the call on SignalConso, the reporting service run by the DGCCRF, France's consumer protection authority.
Three common misconceptions
"My number was on my listing, so they are allowed"
No. A property listing addresses potential buyers or tenants, not suppliers. Consent requires a clear positive act, specific to the telephone channel and tied by name to the company that will call. A number visible online is not one.
"I ticked a box two years ago, so it is settled"
Consent collected under the old regime does not carry the statements now required, and its duration is capped at one year from collection in any event. Most databases built before summer 2026 are therefore non-compliant: they must be collected again, not simply retained.
"It is my own estate agency, they know me"
The running-contract exception is narrower than it looks. It requires a live, unterminated contract, concluded with the entity placing the call, and a call about the subject matter of that contract. An expired mandate, a contract signed with another agency in the same franchise network, or a call that drifts into a works proposal all fall outside it.
Check the consistency of your DPE before making any decision
The OneDpe verification tool analyses your energy performance certificate from its 13-character ADEME number: it compares the declared data against comparable dwellings in your building and your municipality, flags internal inconsistencies, and shows you the points you might be asked to justify. Free, with no sales call.
What this means in practice for the owner of an energy-inefficient home
The practical consequence is paradoxical: owners of properties rated F or G were the most heavily targeted, and they are now the most protected. No electronic channel is lawful for offering you energy-saving works without a prior contract.
That shifts the burden of getting informed onto you. If you want to understand where your property stands — its discount linked to its energy rating, the date at which it would leave the rental market, or the reliability of the certificate itself — it is up to you to go and find out rather than wait for a phone call. That is exactly what our free tools are for, without leaving a number.
On the rental timetable, the deadlines in force are these: properties rated G have been barred from new lettings since 1 January 2025, F follows in 2028 and E in 2034. If your property is affected, our article on gaining one EPC grade: the five works with the best cost-benefit ratio sets out the trade-offs. And to find out whether the certificate everything rests on is sound, start by locating and verifying its ADEME number.
In short: no electronic approach about energy renovation is lawful without a prior contract, your consent cannot unlock that ban, and consent given in another context lapses after a year. Faced with a call, the right reflex is not to hang up but to ask for the proof — it must be given to you free of charge. And to base your works or sale decisions on figures rather than on a sales pitch, start by checking the consistency of your DPE: it is the document everything else rests on.
