The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) introduced significant changes to the consumer law landscape, including granting the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) the ability to enforce consumer law directly against businesses, without having to go to court, and updating the list of banned unfair commercial practices (UCPs).

Previously, UCPs were banned under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which set out how providers of goods or services should conduct themselves in dealings with their customers. Under that regime, all enforcement action against UCPs (and breaches of certain consumer law provisions in other legislation, such as the Consumer Rights Act 2015) had to be brought in the courts. This led to concerns of under-enforcement. 

Prompted by those criticisms, the DMCCA, in a significant change to the enforcement landscape, has granted the CMA the power to determine whether key consumer protection laws have been breached, and to take action directly against businesses to address breaches, including through penalties and redress, without having to apply to the courts (although the CMA retains its civil powers to enforce via the courts where necessary, and those powers have also been updated by the DMCCA).

These powers are very similar to the CMA’s existing powers in relation to anti-competitive practices under the Competition Act 1998.

Key aspects of the new consumer regime include the following: 

• The CMA can impose financial penalties in relation to consumer law breaches of up to 10% of the infringing party’s worldwide turnover or £300,000 ($401,000) (whichever is higher). Worldwide turnover is construed broadly and includes the turnover of other controlling or controlled entities. The CMA also has criminal enforcement powers in relation to certain breaches of consumer law, and may seek director disqualification orders;
• The CMA has compulsory powers to seek information from parties, many of which are similar to those it has for investigating breaches of competition law. These include entering premises with or without a warrant to seize documents (for example dawn raids) and formal information requests. There are corresponding financial penalties including for obstruction, non-compliance of requests for information and the provision of false or misleading information. Previously, the CMA had to apply to the courts to enforce information requests.
• When finding an infringement of consumer law, in addition to imposing a financial penalty, the CMA can impose directions. The CMA enjoys significant discretion in relation to the directions it can make, including imposing Enhanced Consumer Measures (ECMs). ECMs can be extremely wide in scope and include measures requiring a party to:
  • 1) offer compensation or other redress to consumers impacted by the infringing practice;
  • 2) implement compliance measures; and
  • 3) implement measures to assist consumers to make better informed purchasing decisions.

The CMA can also issue an Online Interface Notice (OIN) which, for example, can require an infringing party (or a third party) to remove content from, modify content on, disable or restrict access to an online interface.

It is worth noting that, although these enforcement powers focus on consumer-facing industries, the relevant commercial practices have been defined broadly to include those that ‘relate to’ the promotion or supply of a product to or from a consumer. As such, even if a trader is not directly selling to consumers, they may still have to take these new provisions into account. The concepts of a ‘trader’ and a ‘product’ are also defined broadly, resulting in the scope of these new powers being very wide indeed. 

Whilst the CMA continues to stress the importance of the “4Ps” in its enforcement work following the Strategic Steer from the Government to focus on economic growth (that is, proportionality, predictability, process and pace), the CMA has indicated that in its early direct consumer enforcement work it will focus on egregious breaches where the law is clear, such as aggressive sales practices that prey on vulnerable customers, fees hidden until late in the buying process, and objectively false information being given to consumers.

The CMA has also indicated that it will focus on sectors in which it has previously identified consumer issues, with scope for the CMA to branch out to other areas in due course. It would therefore be particularly advisable for businesses operating in such sectors, or that have received significant complaints in relation to the areas addressed below, to ensure they are fully aware of these changes.

Expansion of banned commercial practices

The DMCCA also amends and expands the list of banned UCPs. Whilst the amendments to this list are extensive, we set out below some of those that may be of particular interest to businesses, and which have been highlighted in The CMA’s approach to consumer protection document published on April 7, 2025. 

Drip pricing 

When making an “invitation to purchase”, businesses must clearly display certain information, such as the main features of the product, the total price, the identity of the trader and any persons on whose behalf a trader is acting. The CMA has indicated that, within this category of practices, one of its areas of focus will be the prohibition of drip pricing – that is where a headline price is advertized and other mandatory charges are only displayed to the average consumer later in the sales process. The omission of this information is an unfair practice regardless of its effects on the decisions of consumers.

For example, this means that headline prices must include all charges the customer must pay or which, without paying, mean the customer cannot in practice use the product (such as line rental charges in broadband packages), and charges that are unavoidable in practice (for example, certain delivery fees/postal charges, mandatory service charges or taxes) even if they are in theory avoidable. It also means that the total prices of fixed-term contracts must be shown up front, in addition to monthly prices. 

The CMA has indicated that it will take a phased approach to enforcing this type of conduct, with the CMA expecting to take enforcement action in relation to the more established prohibitions in the coming months. However, the CMA expects to provide further guidance in Autumn 2025 for those aspects of the regime that have created more uncertainty, including the provision of information on fixed-term periodic contracts.

Fake reviews and concealed incentivized reviews

A number of discrete prohibitions on “fake reviews” and “concealed incentivised reviews” have been included in the DMCCA as banned practices, and separate guidance has been provided by the CMA in respect of these prohibitions.

A fake review is a consumer review “that purports to be, but is not, based on a person’s genuine experience”, and a concealed review is one where a person has been commissioned to provide a review without that being made apparent. Associated prohibitions include publishing consumer reviews in a misleading way, offering services to procure banned reviews for traders, and failing to take reasonable and proportionate steps to prevent and remove banned or false/misleading customer reviews (including associated obligations on platforms). 

The CMA has indicated that, during the first three months of the new regime, it will focus on helping businesses comply with these new obligations, rather than on enforcing breaches. Nevertheless, given the time it may take to achieve compliance, affected businesses should begin implementing any necessary changes without delay. 

Subscription contracts 

Many households have an array of monthly subscription contracts for goods and services. Such contracts have become increasingly popular in recent years, but the CMA estimates that approximately 5.8% of active subscriptions are unwanted by consumers. As such, the DMCCA has brought in new rules to address this apparent unwanted spend, including requirements for traders to provide:

• increased transparency on pre-contract information, including details on when payments fall due;
• reminders about ongoing subscriptions, including before trials come to an end and before long-term contracts roll into new terms;
• additional 14-day cooling-off periods when commencing subscriptions, following trials, and when renewing long-term subscriptions; and 
• exit/cancellation procedures that are as easy as subscribing.

There are certain exemptions to these rules, including for financial services businesses and healthcare and medical contracts, but companies will need to check whether their activities fall clearly within them. 

Further secondary legislation is required to clarify aspects of the new rules on subscription contracts, and as such they are only currently expected to come into force in Spring 2026 at the earliest. Nevertheless, businesses involved in selling subscription contracts should check the DMCCA requirements and see how they may need to adapt their processes and contractual arrangements in due course. 

Other unfair commercial practices

There are various other categories of UCPs covered by the DMCCA and that are subject to direct enforcement by the CMA. These include false or misleading actions or omissions, deceptive presentation, aggressive practices, unfair contract terms, making persistent and unwanted solicitations, advertisements directly to children, and the catch-all of “contravention of requirements of professional diligence”.

Many of these prohibitions appeared in the prior law but have been expanded and it is expected that, in some cases, it will be easier for the legal tests to be met. Some of these practices are deemed to be unfair in all circumstances, and others are only unlawful if they “are likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision that the consumer would not have taken otherwise.” Businesses should be made aware of these changes to ensure they  comply with the amended rules.