Consumer protection in digital markets has become a major public concern in recent years, and the UK is the latest jurisdiction to introduce legislation aimed at enhancing protections online. The Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act (DMCCA or the Act) introduces significant overhauls to the UK’s legal framework, with implications for businesses with online operations.
The DMCCA is being implemented in phases throughout 2025 and 2026. In April 2025, measures addressing unfair trading practices were introduced, and by Spring 2026, the Act’s new rules governing subscription contracts are expected to take effect. This alert provides an overview of the DMCCA’s major consumer protection reforms and highlights the additional responsibilities certain businesses will face under the new regime.
Enhanced Protections for Consumers
The DMCCA consolidates a substantial portion of UK consumer protection law into one statute, replacing the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and introducing certain enhancements. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which acts as regulator under the DMCCA, now has the ability to directly determine whether consumer protection laws have been infringed (rather than needing to go to court, as under the previous rules), and to take enforcement measures (such as issuing infringement notices or fines).
From April 2025, the DMCCA prohibits:
- Unfair Commercial Practices. The Act sets out a list of commercial practices that are always to be deemed unfair, including submitting or commissioning another person to write fake product or service reviews, or publishing such reviews in a misleading way. While the rules on fake reviews are technically in force, the CMA announced in April that it would temporarily (until July 2025) focus on supporting businesses with their compliance efforts, rather than proceeding straight to enforcement.
- Use of Misleading Actions. This includes providing false or misleading information about a product or providing information in a way that would deceive or confuse the average consumer.
- Misleading Omissions. Failing to provide consumers with material information may be considered a material omission if it would be needed to make an informed transactional decision. The Act also prohibits omitting material information on the total price of a product, including through the use of “drip pricing” techniques that are used to mask mandatory charges. The CMA is currently running a further consultation into drip pricing, and has stated that it will only take enforcement action against practices that are in clear breach of the rules until further guidance is adopted.
- Aggressive Practices. Practices that involve harassment, coercion or the exercise of undue influence are prohibited, including those that, for example, involve threatening behavior, or that exploit the vulnerability of a consumer.
In addition, from Spring 2026, the DMCCA will introduce new requirements for retailers that offer subscription contract arrangements to their customers. These rules will require the trader to disclose certain pre-contract information to consumers, remind them in advance of a renewal (or where a trial comes to an end), and allow subscriptions to be exited in a straightforward way. Consumers are provided with a “cooling off period” within which they must be able to cancel their subscription contract, with penalties for traders if they do not adhere to these.
Sanctions and Enforcement
The Act provides the CMA with robust powers to take enforcement action in cases of noncompliance by in-scope traders. Where it finds that there has been an infringement of the legislation, the CMA may:
- investigate traders it suspects have not complied with consumer protection law, including by issuing information notices and inspecting premises.
- direct a trader to take enhanced consumer protection measures where it determines that an infringement of consumer protection law has occurred. The CMA may also require online content to display a warning, be modified or removed.
- issue monetary penalties amounting to up to 10 percent of a trader’s global turnover.
- pursue criminal prosecution for egregious breaches of consumer protection law and disqualify directors for a period of up to 15 years.
In determining the level of any fine, the CMA will take into account any proactive compliance steps by a company. Fines are expected to be on the lower end initially, with the CMA allowing for a grace period while companies ensure compliance with the new framework.
Next Steps
Businesses operating in the UK market or targeting UK consumers will need to carefully review their practices and update their internal training and policies to ensure compliance with the new consumer protection framework. The CMA stated that it would focus initially—until July 2025—on supporting companies with compliance rather than enforcement and has published several pieces of guidance on how to comply with the legislation, including the rules on fake reviews and unfair commercial practices (such as drip pricing). The CMA has also confirmed that early action will focus on more egregious practices like providing objectively false information to consumers. The CMA is also expected to continue its focus against “greenwashing” claims.
In terms of what can be expected from engagement with the CMA, the regulator stressed that the process has a lot of parallels with the competition process and that companies can expect “similar opportunities” to engage with them during a case. The CMA also stressed that it will seek “early resolution of cases” where appropriate, through settlement. Given the lack of precedent currently, the CMA is “exploring” new opportunities for companies to seek guidance on practices they are considering implementing.
The new UK enforcement regime is part of a broader focus on strengthening consumer protection in the digital space: the European Commission is considering a proposal for a “Digital Fairness Act” which would focus on unfair online practices and build upon existing EU consumer protection legislation.
