California Amends Online Dating Service Contract Law

On Sunday, the Governor of California signed new legislation to update the state’s rules around dating service contracts.

Jerry Brown amended the Dating Service Contract Act with AB-314, bringing a number of changes regarding online dating contracts.

These include that a customer now has the right to cancel a dating service by midnight of the third business day after signing up “by mail, telegram or delivery”.

The cancellation notice is effective on the date the customer mailed the notice with proper address and postage.

In addition to this, customers can also cancel via email, and dating service providers must give customers access to electronic copies of their contracts.

Introduced by Kevin Mullin of South San Francisco, the legislation also requires dating services to issue a full refund to customers within ten days of receiving the cancellation notice.

Customers can also stop making payments if they die or become disabled.

The amendments were supported by the Internet Association and Match.com, but some district attorneys argued against it.

In a statement on Sunday, Assemblyman Mullin said AB-314 was a “common sense measure… that simply updates the Dating Service Act to reflect the modern reality of internet dating.”