Unfair contract terms: the CMA publishes updated guidance

On 22 July 2026, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its final updated guidance on unfair contract terms under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA). 

As anticipated in our previous blog, the new guidance is simplified and more streamlined. The guidance provides updated practical examples for businesses, reflecting case law and enforcement action over the last decade. 

The CMA has also updated its short guide to writing fair contracts for customers based on the new guidance. 

Key takeaways

Combined with the CMA's enhanced enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (the DMCCA), the guidance is a timely reminder for businesses to review their consumer terms to ensure they are transparent and fair: if not, terms may be unenforceable against the consumer and may expose the business to financial penalties under the CMA’s new powers.

The CMA’s key messages are:

• Businesses should check whether terms in their consumer-facing T&Cs or policies are unusual, particularly onerous, or likely to significantly disadvantage the consumer – if so, they are likely to be unfair, unenforceable and risk scrutiny from the CMA (see below).
• Transparency of consumer contract terms is a standalone obligation. A term may attract regulatory scrutiny because it is ambiguous, even where its substance is not unfair. Hiding important terms in small print may be problematic, as might not making the practical consequences of a term clear.
• Businesses should consider how they can achieve transparency in a digital environment. For example, businesses are encouraged to provide contracts or notices in multiple accessible formats; to ensure that information on terms is also presented in smaller pieces throughout the customer journey (e.g. via pop-ups or hover text); and to use simple FAQs alongside contracts.
• For terms on the “Grey List” (Schedule 2 of the CRA) which are at higher risk of being deemed to be unfair, businesses should have regard to new examples of what is more, and less, likely to comply. New examples of risk areas that are covered in the guidance include terms allowing businesses to introduce additional charges (e.g. admin charges, service charges) unilaterally; terms reducing the amount that a consumer might be refunded where they have opened the packaging of a product; and terms reserving a blanket right to retain a security deposit for loss or damage.

The publication of the guidance comes against the backdrop of increasingly active consumer protection enforcement under the DMCCA. The CMA has already opened investigations using its new direct enforcement powers into potentially unfair contract terms (see here). In its guidance, the CMA explicitly says that if a business recommends or seeks to enforce a term that is unfair under the CRA, this is “inherently likely” to amount to an unfair commercial practice under the DMCCA – which the CMA may investigate.

What’s next?

The CMA is hosting a webinar on 24 September 2026 to support stakeholders in understanding the revised guidance; interested businesses can register here. 

To discuss these changes further, please reach out to any of the authors or your usual Freshfields contact.