Can I Phone Customers in France With an AI Agent After 11 August 2026?

Short answer: since 11 August 2026, according to the CNIL and the DGCCRF, a business may phone a consumer for commercial canvassing in France only if the consumer gave their consent beforehand, and the Bloctel opt-out list has ended. Calls are allowed Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 20:00, not at weekends or on public holidays. Calling professionals follows a lighter rule: inform them and let them object. Whether an AI voice agent counts as an "automated calling system" is not settled in the pages we read, so plan on the stricter view. The product does not collect or check consent. That is your job.

What follows is a plain-language reading of official pages on 25 October 2026. The DGCCRF's guide could not be opened by our tools, so parts come from search summaries of it and are marked. Read the official text; this is not legal advice.

What changed on 11 August 2026?

Until then, a consumer who did not want canvassing had to register on Bloctel. The CNIL's pages now say that, from 11 August 2026, companies must ask for the consumer's consent before any telephone canvassing, and that Bloctel stops existing at that date. The move rests on a law of 30 June 2025 and an implementing decree of 23 July 2026, both named on the CNIL's sheet (we did not read them on Légifrance). The old regime was opt-out; this one is opt-in.

What counts as valid consent?

The CNIL's sheet says consent must be free, specific, informed and unambiguous. A pre-ticked box or acceptance of general terms is not enough. The consent you collect should state the identity of the caller, the nature of the goods or services, that it is valid for one year at most, and that it can be withdrawn at any time, and it should allow access to the proof on request. You must be able to prove it, and the CNIL says to keep the proof for at least three years, on a durable medium the consumer can obtain free of charge.

Which calls need no consent?

• Selling subscriptions to newspapers, periodicals or magazines.
• A call about a contract in force and related to its subject (carrying it out, complementary products, improving the service).
• Non-commercial calls, such as those of a charity, with information at the time the number is collected and a simple, free way to object.

Canvassing by telephone for energy renovation, for adapting homes to loss of independence and for the personal training account (CPF) is banned outright.

When may I call?

For consumers who consented, the CNIL's sheet says Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 20:00; not at weekends or on public holidays unless the person expressly agrees to other times. A call following an explicit request for information is allowed within five working days and only about what was requested. The DGCCRF's guide also limits how often you may retry; we did not read the figure, so read its guide before you set retries. The platform sets no calling window of its own: you set calling hours for each campaign, on the called person's clock, and they must match these.

What about business-to-business calls?

For professionals, the CNIL says you must inform the person and let them object simply and free of charge, and a legitimate interest can support a call whose subject relates to their profession. Its sheet gives no hours for them. How a sole trader is treated is a question for your adviser.

Is an AI voice agent an "automate d'appel"?

We could not verify it. The CNIL's phone sheet excludes automated calling systems and points to another sheet, which says that for consumers prior consent is required and for professionals information and a way to object. It does not define the term. Because a voice agent places calls without a person dialling, plan on the stricter view: prior consent from the consumer for every outbound call, kept as proof.

How should a campaign be set up?

1. Collect consent properly: a separate, active choice that names your business, the kind of offer and the validity; store the date and the wording shown.
2. Drop anyone you cannot prove, and anyone whose year has passed.
3. Write the opening line: who is calling, for which business, that it is an automated assistant, why, and that the person can ask you to stop.
4. Set calling hours inside the days and hours above, and treat French public holidays as closed.
5. Keep a do-not-contact list and add anyone who withdraws, even by voice, at once.
6. Keep the records: the product stores a transcript and outcome of every call; recording is a per-agent switch, off by default.

What does the product not do?

• It does not collect or check consent.
• It does not screen numbers against any register.
• It does not announce itself as an AI unless your opening line says so.

Answering your own inbound calls is a different matter from canvassing, and most businesses start there. See where to start, voice campaigns, the France page and the AI receptionist.