Hawaii automatic renewal law
Hawaii's automatic-renewal law for subscription businesses: 7 cited requirements (disclosure, consent, acknowledgment, notice windows, cancellation), effective dates and who can sue. Generated from Checkbox's legal catalog; pending attorney review.
At a glance
| Applies to | Consumers in Hawaii, wherever the business is located |
| Laws | Hawaii automatic renewal and continuous service clauses law |
| Effective | 2012-07-01 (amended; latest change effective 2023-07-03) |
| Status | In force |
| Requirements in the catalog | 7 (2 with a notice window) |
| Private right of action | via general consumer law |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
Federal law applies on top of this: see federal subscription law.
The law
Hawaii automatic renewal and continuous service clauses law
- Citation: Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5
- Effective: 2012-07-01
- Status: In force
- Verified: 2026-10-29, official text read in full (confidence: high)
Disclosure of renewal/continuous-service clauses and cancellation procedure; affirmative consent; retainable acknowledgment; 30-60 day notice for 12-month+ contracts; cancellation channel; material-change notice; knowing violations or failure to cancel on request are UDAP violations (§ 480-2).
Scope: Consumers as defined in § 480-1. Exempt: chapter 412 financial institutions, chapter 431/432/432D insurers, chapter 269 telecommunications providers, and cable operators (ch. 440G/FCC-regulated activities).
| Amendment | Effective | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Act 200, SLH 2015 (SB 464) | 2015-07-01 | Continuous service, consent, acknowledgment, cancellation mechanism, material change, failure-to-cancel liability. |
| Act 194, SLH 2023 (SB 478) | 2023-07-03 | Cable-operator exemption updated (no substantive change for subscriptions). |
Requirements
Each row is one obligation in the catalog, in plain English, with the provision it comes from. "Applies when" lists the conditions under which it applies (otherwise it always applies to covered offers). The ids are stable and match the dataset and Checkbox API results.
At sign-up
| Requirement | Applies when | Effective | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
Disclose the automatic renewal clause and cancellation procedure clearly and conspicuously For a consumer contract with a term of more than one month that automatically renews for more than one month, disclose the automatic renewal clause and the cancellation procedure clearly and conspicuously in the contract. US-HI.481-9.5.a | term ≥ 2 months | 2012-07-01 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(a), (k) |
Disclose the continuous service clause and cancellation procedure clearly and conspicuously For a consumer contract with a continuous service clause (continues until cancelled), clearly and conspicuously disclose the clause and the cancellation procedure. US-HI.481-9.5.d | always | 2015-07-01 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(d) |
Obtain affirmative consent before charging Do not charge the consumer's card or third-party account for an automatic renewal or continuous service without first obtaining affirmative consent to the agreement containing the offer terms. US-HI.481-9.5.e | always | 2015-07-01 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(e) |
After sign-up (acknowledgment)
| Requirement | Applies when | Effective | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
Send a retainable acknowledgment; for trials state the right to cancel before paying Provide an acknowledgment the consumer may retain with the offer terms, cancellation policy and cancellation procedure. For free trials it must also clearly and conspicuously state the right to cancel before payment and how. US-HI.481-9.5.f | always | 2015-07-01 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(f) |
Before charges (notices and reminders)
| Requirement | Applies when | Effective | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
Renewal notice 30-60 days before the cancellation deadline (12-month+ contracts) For a contract term of 12 months or more that renews for more than one month, notify the consumer clearly and conspicuously that it will renew unless cancelled, how to cancel, and the deadline to respond, 30 to 60 days before that deadline. Electronic notice is allowed if the sale was electronic (UETA) or the consumer elected email notices. US-HI.481-9.5.b | term ≥ 12 months | 2012-07-01 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(b)-(c) |
Notice of material changes before implementation Before implementing a material change, clearly and conspicuously notify Hawaii consumers of the change with retainable information on how to cancel. US-HI.481-9.5.h | always | 2015-07-01 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(h) |
Cancelling
| Requirement | Applies when | Effective | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
Provide a cancellation channel and honor cancellation requests Include a toll-free number, email address, postal address (if billing directly) or a clearly and conspicuously described cost-effective, timely and easy-to-use alternative to communicate cancellation; knowingly failing to cancel upon the consumer's request is an unfair or deceptive practice. US-HI.481-9.5.g | always | 2015-07-01 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(g), (i) |
Notice windows
When each notice must be sent. A notice outside its window does not count, so schedule sends against the exact dates.
| Notice | When | Applies when | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renewal notice 30-60 days before the cancellation deadline (12-month+ contracts) | 30-60 days before the cancellation deadline | term ≥ 12 months | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(b)-(c) |
| Notice of material changes before implementation | any time before the price change | always | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 481-9.5(h) |
Several states use overlapping windows; one email can often satisfy all of them. See free-trial notices and price increases.
Who can sue, and remedies
Private right of action: Indirectly: private suits go through general consumer-protection law.
California-style law; private enforcement through the state's general consumer-protection (UDAP) statute is inferred, not verified.
Remedy figures come from the cited statutes and from public enforcement records summarized in Checkbox's litigation research; figures from secondary sources are marked "unverified" where they appear.
Check your subscription flow
Checkbox evaluates these requirements automatically: the sign-up page, the emails and the cancellation flow are checked against Hawaii's rules (and every other jurisdiction's) on every check. 14 machine checks cover this page.
- Free to start: get test API keys or connect the MCP server at
https://app.checkbox.site/mcpfrom your coding assistant. - Preflight a disclosure, a Stripe Checkout Session or an email before you ship: preflight checks (
--jurisdictions US-HIlimits a check to Hawaii's rules). - Start from the subscription compliance checklist.
Data and citation
This page is generated from the open subscription law dataset (catalog 2026.11.01.1, CC BY 4.0), available as JSON and CSV. Cite it as: Checkbox, "Hawaii automatic renewal law", checkbox.site/laws/hawaii, catalog 2026.11.01.1 (last reviewed 2026-10-29). Report an error: support@checkbox.site.
Checkbox is compliance software, not a law firm; nothing in these docs is legal advice (details). You remain solely responsible for your subscription program, and Checkbox takes on no legal liability for it (Terms). Checkbox is a System1 company; Trust center · Status. For AI agents: every page is available as Markdown at the same URL plus .md; the index is /llms.txt.