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Contract trap · Any contract

Unilateral terms change

The drafter may rewrite the terms, privacy policy, tariffs, house rules or scope of work at any time — often by posting a new version — with continued use or silence deemed acceptance, and sometimes applied retroactively to data or products already paid for.

Severity
Serious
How often it turns up
Almost always
Holds up?
Depends where you are
Clause phrases
24

What it looks like in a contract

Redline matches these phrases against your document verbatim. Drafters rarely invent new wording — they copy it, which is why the same sentences turn up across unrelated contracts.

In English-language contracts

  • we may modify these Terms at any time
  • at our sole discretion
  • changes are effective immediately upon posting
  • your continued use constitutes acceptance
  • it is your responsibility to review these Terms periodically
  • as amended from time to time
  • we reserve the right to update or change
  • if you do not agree, your sole remedy is to stop using the Service
  • applies to all information we have previously collected
  • then-current rates
  • rules and regulations may be modified by landlord
  • posted at

In Russian-language contracts

  • вправе в любое время в одностороннем порядке изменять условия настоящего Соглашения
  • оставляет за собой право в одностороннем порядке вносить изменения в настоящее Соглашение
  • Соглашение может быть изменено без какого-либо специального уведомления
  • изменения вступают в силу с момента их публикации
  • с момента размещения новой редакции на Сайте
  • продолжение использования Сервиса после внесения изменений означает согласие Пользователя
  • Пользователь обязуется самостоятельно отслеживать изменения
  • в случае несогласия Пользователь обязан прекратить использование
  • распространяется на ранее полученные персональные данные
  • Наймодатель вправе изменять условия договора
  • по действующим тарифам Исполнителя
  • новая редакция Соглашения

Check your own contract

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Why it bites

The contract you signed is not the one you will be held to: arbitration clauses, AI-training licences, new fees, reduced service or wider data sharing get inserted later, and 'continued use = consent' leaves no real choice (Unity 2023 repriced shipped games; the FTC treats retroactive privacy changes as unfair).

Is it enforceable where you are

The same clause can be routine in one country and void in another. What follows is what the law says where you are — not advice on your particular contract.

In the US, unconscionability and the FTC Act §5 bar on unfair and deceptive practices are the general backstops; in the EU and the UK, consumer standard terms are tested under Directive 93/13 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

United States

Enforceable with reasonable notice and a chance to reject; 'illusory' retroactive changes without notice are void; FTC treats material retroactive changes to data practices as unfair/deceptive (Gateway Learning 2004; 1Health 2023; FTC blog Feb 2024 on AI terms); B2B change-by-URL clauses are contract.

  • Cited
  • FTC

European Union

Directive 93/13 Annex 1(j)/(k) — unilateral alteration without a valid reason stated in the contract is presumptively unfair; Annex Part 2(b) allows changes to open-ended contracts only with reasonable notice and a free exit; Digital Content Directive 2019/770 Art 19; DSA Art 14(2) notice of significant changes; P2B Reg 2019/1150 Art 3 — 15 days' notice to business users, retroactive changes void; GDPR Art 6(4)/13(3) for new purposes.

  • Cited
  • 93/13 Annex 1(j)/(k)
  • Directive 2019/770
  • Directive 93/13
  • DSA Art 14(2)
  • GDPR Art 6(4)/13(3)
  • Reg 2019/1150

United Kingdom

CRA 2015 Sch 2 paras 11-13 and s.68 transparency; CMA37 — variation clauses need a valid reason, notice and a penalty-free exit; CMA cloud-storage undertakings 2016-17; Peabody Trust v Reeve [2008] EWHC 1432 (Ch) struck a tenancy variation clause; UCTA s.3(2)(b) for B2B standard terms.

  • Cited
  • [2008] EWHC 1432
  • CMA
  • CMA37
  • CRA 2015 Sch 2 paras 11-13
  • Peabody Trust v Reeve
  • UCTA s.3(2)

Russia

ст. 16 п. 2 пп. 1 ЗоЗПП — право исполнителя на одностороннее изменение условий ничтожно (кроме случаев, предусмотренных законом); ст. 310 ГК (между предпринимателями — только если предусмотрено договором и добросовестно, Пленум ВС № 54/2016 п. 14); ст. 428 ГК; 152-ФЗ ст. 5 ч. 2, ст. 9 — новая цель обработки требует нового согласия; штраф ч. 2 ст. 14.8 КоАП.

  • Cited
  • 152-ФЗ
  • Пленум ВС № 54/2016
  • ст. 14.8 КоАП
  • ст. 16 п. 2 пп. 1 ЗоЗПП
  • ст. 310 ГК
  • ст. 428 ГК
  • ст. 5 ч. 2
  • ст. 9

Where this has actually happened

Regulator actions, court rulings and the contracts they were fought over.

  • Google Terms of Use — LG Berlin 15 O 402/12 (2013) and KG Berlin 23 U 268/13 (2019) struck unilateral-change clauses (vzbv)
  • Unity Runtime Fee, Sept 2023 — retroactive per-install fee reversed after protest
  • BGH XI ZR 26/20 (27.04.2021) — Postbank deemed-consent (Zustimmungsfiktion) clause void
  • FTC v. Gateway Learning (2004) and 1Health.io/Vitagene (2023) — retroactive privacy-policy changes treated as unfair
  • Иви (ivi.tv), Пользовательское соглашение — использование Сервиса после внесения изменений означает согласие Пользователя

What to do

In order, from the thing that takes a minute to the thing that takes a letter.

  1. Save a dated copy of the version you accepted
  2. Demand written notice and a free right to terminate with pro-rata refund
  3. SMB: require signed change orders and 30-90 days' notice
  4. EU/UK: challenge under the grey list (no valid reason, no notice, no exit)
  5. RU: for consumers the clause is void under ст. 16 п. 2 пп. 1 ЗоЗПП — complain to Роспотребнадзор.

Check your own document

Traps that travel with it

Drafters who use one of these usually use several.

79 traps · 1789 verbatim clause phrases