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In France, an AI agent may only make marketing calls to people who agreed to automated calls beforehand. Article L.34-5 of the Postal and Electronic Communications Code (CPCE) requires prior consent for marketing by automated systems to any natural person, at home or at work. Since August 11, 2026, Article L.223-1 of the Consumer Code (Code de la consommation) also requires prior consent for every sales call to a consumer, and the Bloctel do-not-call list no longer exists.
This page summarizes the law as of October 2026 to help you plan AI phone calls. It isn’t legal advice. Laws and how regulators apply them change, so check your use case with a lawyer before you start a campaign.

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At a glance

Only with prior consent. Article L.34-5 CPCE bans marketing through an automated system, fax, or email that uses the contact details of a natural person:
“qui n’a pas exprimé préalablement son consentement à recevoir des prospections directes par ce moyen”
In English: “who hasn’t agreed beforehand to receive direct marketing through this channel.” It protects people, not companies. The rule covers the contact details of a natural person, whether they hold the line or only use it. Consumers, sole traders, and employees on their own line, such as a direct line or a work mobile, count. A company’s general number belongs to the company, so it falls outside. Gouache Avocats reads L.34-5 as excluding legal entities, and the Paris chamber of commerce says the same of generic addresses such as contact@. Your AI agent may call a company switchboard without consent. L.34-5 still requires you to name who you call for and offer a way to stop the calls. No court or regulator has ruled on automated calls to a switchboard yet. Named employees need consent. The CNIL, the data protection authority, lets you send B2B email without consent when it fits the recipient’s job (Leto). An Alliance Digitale infographic on France Num, the government’s portal for small businesses, applies the same opt-out to B2B callbots. No court or CNIL decision backs this for calls, and the text of L.34-5 covers employees. Get consent before your AI agent calls a named person or a sole trader. Whoever answers the switchboard keeps their GDPR rights, so stop when they object (GDPR Art. 21). AI agents most likely count. The law doesn’t mention AI. Article L.32, 32° CPCE defines an automated calling system as one that calls several end users automatically, following instructions set for it. ARCEP, the telecom regulator, applies that definition and wrote exceptions for AI that mainly answers incoming calls (Decision 2022-1583, section 7.1.3), which only makes sense if AI calling counts as automated. No CNIL guidance or court decision addresses AI voice agents. Treat AI calls as automated calls. A human in the loop doesn’t settle it. ARCEP says a dialer may fall outside its definition when a human orders each call individually, with no parallel calls. That describes tools for human callers. When your AI agent runs the conversation, a human pressing Dial doesn’t make it a human call.

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Cold calls by a human

Consumers. Since August 11, 2026, you may not call a consumer for sales, yourself or through a third party, without prior consent (L.223-1, rewritten by Loi n° 2025-594, Article 13). Calls about a running contract and sales of newspapers and magazines (L.223-5) are the exceptions. A consumer is a natural person acting outside their trade (Article liminaire), so a sole trader you call about their business isn’t one. Say who you are, who you call for, and that the call is commercial at the start. If the consumer objects, end the call right away and never call them again (L.221-16). Businesses. L.223-1 doesn’t apply, but the GDPR protects the contact person. Rely on legitimate interest, tell people that you may use their number for sales calls, and let them object simply and for free (CNIL, GDPR Art. 21).

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Existing customers and callback requests

Existing customers. A human may call a consumer about a running contract without consent, including complementary products or upgrades (L.223-1). L.34-5 has a customer exception for email only, so your AI agent needs consent for marketing calls to customers. Service calls. Appointment reminders, delivery updates, and support follow-ups aren’t marketing. Keep them free of offers. Callbacks. A callback request serves as consent if it meets every point under consent for AI calls. Ads that lead to a landing page with a consent checkbox work well. In energy renovation, you may only answer a consumer’s information request, within five working days and about the requested products (R.223-4).

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Do-not-call register: Bloctel (closed)

France has no do-not-call register anymore. Bloctel, the opt-out list for consumers, ended on August 11, 2026 when opt-in replaced it (DGCCRF). It was open to consumers only. Keep your own suppression list instead. Consumers may withdraw consent at any time, also orally during a call (R.223-3). They report unwanted calls to the 33700 platform and to SignalConso (Service-Public). botBrains doesn’t screen numbers. Use guidance to tell the agent how to handle a request to stop calling, and a Unitool to write the objection to your CRM. You carry the burden of proof (L.223-1). The consent request must meet these points (R.223-1): Archive each consent digitally with its text, date, and time for three years, and give the consumer a free copy on request (R.223-2). Purchased leads and partners. Consent that doesn’t name your company fails R.223-1. The law presumes that any company profiting from unlawful calls is responsible, so outsourcing doesn’t shield you (L.223-1). In 2024, the CNIL fined FORIOU EUR 310,000 and HUBSIDE.STORE EUR 525,000 for prospecting with data from forms that hid the option to refuse (avocat.fr). Ask vendors for the exact consent text, the collection method, and proof per contact. botBrains asks for consent evidence before outbound campaigns, see before you start outbound campaigns.

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Tell callers they’re talking to an AI

Since August 2, 2026, Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires that people know they’re talking to an AI system, at the latest when the conversation starts. This applies to inbound and outbound calls, to consumers and to business contacts, and you can’t count on the exception for obvious cases when your AI agent sounds human. The default introduction already says that your AI agent is an AI, so keep that statement first when you edit it. When you call a consumer to sell something, the Consumer Rights Directive also requires you to name your company, anyone you call for, and the commercial purpose at the start. French law adds no AI-specific rule. In sales calls to consumers, state your identity, the company you call for, and the commercial nature at the start (L.221-16). For automated calls, L.34-5 forbids hiding who you call for and requires a way to stop the calls. For outbound marketing calls:
For inbound and service calls:
You can edit the introduction per project, see introductions.

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Call recording

Criminal law. Article 226-1 of the Criminal Code (Code pénal) punishes recording words spoken in private or in confidence without consent. The law presumes consent when you record openly and the person doesn’t object although they could. Announce the recording and offer the star key. Data protection. You need a lawful basis under GDPR Art. 6, such as legitimate interest, and you must tell the caller (GDPR Art. 13). Consent isn’t the only basis. When the caller presses the star key, botBrains stops the recording and discards it. The transcript stays. botBrains stores recordings, transcripts, and call data in the EU. Voice as biometric data. A recording only becomes biometric data when you process it to identify someone (GDPR Art. 4(14) and Art. 9). Recording for quality or training doesn’t do that.

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Caller ID and calling hours

Show your number. You may not hide your number on sales calls to consumers, and the number must belong to the company you call for (L.221-17). Callers see your botBrains number, and botBrains provisions French numbers on request. Use a number allowed for automated calls. Since January 1, 2023, automated calling systems may not show mobile (06, 07), geographic (01 to 05), or regular 09 numbers. In mainland France, they may use verified numbers starting with 0162, 0163, 0270, 0271, 0377, 0378, 0424, 0425, 0568, 0569, 0948, or 0949. Lines that call five or fewer numbers in 30 days, or make no more than 20% as many calls as they receive, are exempt, except on mobile numbers. Operators may block other calls (ARCEP Decision 2022-1583, L.44 CPCE). Ask for a verified number for outbound AI calls. Calling hours. These apply to sales calls to consumers (D.223-9): Calling outside these hours needs the consumer’s explicit agreement to a precise date and time (L.223-1). Otherwise the call counts as made without consent (R.223-1 II 2°). No hours apply to B2B calls. botBrains doesn’t enforce calling hours or count attempts. On voicemail, the agent hangs up without leaving a message, but that still counts as an attempt.

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Sector rules

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Fines and enforcement

The DGCCRF, the consumer protection authority, publishes its fines at the offender’s expense (L.242-16). Contracts from unlawful calls are void (L.223-1). We found no published decision on AI voice agents or robocalls. In June 2026, the Constitutional Council ruled that the CNIL, ARCEP, and the DGCCRF may not each sanction the same breach of L.34-5 (Decision 2026-1210 QPC). Until a new law passes, or October 31, 2027 at the latest, only one authority may pursue the same facts against the same company.

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Sources

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Next steps

Phone integration

Set up your phone line, introductions, and outbound calls.

Calling laws by country

Compare consent rules for AI calls across the EU, the UK, and the US.