The DMCC Act dramatically changes the consumer protection landscape in the UK. Not only does the CMA now have much stronger investigatory and enforcement powers, but underlying consumer laws have also been enhanced. Fake reviews have been added to the list of practices that are considered automatically unfair in all circumstances, and invitations to purchase that omit material information (including for example drip pricing practices) are now prohibited regardless of whether or not the practice influenced a consumer’s transactional decision-making. The Act will also set out specific new rules on subscription contracts and consumer savings schemes (expected to take effect from spring 2026). Global businesses in every sector should review the way they offer their products and services to UK consumers.
The majority of the DMCC Act’s consumer law provisions entered into force on 6 April 2025. Updated (final) guidance on unfair commercial practices (here), fake reviews (here) and the new consumer protection regime under the DMCC Act (here) were published on 4 April, while finalised guidance on the CMA’s direct enforcement regime (here) was published on 14 March. The CMA is currently consulting on the more complex elements of the prohibited practice of drip pricing (consultation closes 8 September 2025), with further guidance expected to be published in autumn 2025.
In a blog published on 10 March 2025, the CMA explained that it will prioritise the most egregious breaches for enforcement. This was reiterated in the CMA’s “approach to consumer protection” published on 7 April (here). The examples of “egregious breaches” it mentioned include:
- Using aggressive sales practices that prey on vulnerability;
- Providing objectively false information to consumers;
- Using contract terms that are “very obviously imbalanced and unfair”;
- Behaviour where the CMA has already put down a clear marker through its previous enforcement work;
- “Where the law tells us that a practice is always unfair”.
The CMA’s approach document also indicates that the CMA can only impose a monetary penalty where infringing conduct takes place after the commencement date, and therefore fines are likely to be lower in the initial period of the new DMCC Act regime.
Our experience
- advising on clients’ compliance with the new DMCC Act requirements including fake and misleading reviews, drip-pricing and the new subscription rules
- assisting a number of clients during investigations by the CMA into alleged unfair sales, pricing and promotional practices in the hotels, groceries, anti-virus software, secondary ticketing, aviation and online travel booking sectors (among others)
- advising on a strategically important complaint to the UK Advertising Standards Authority alleging “” in adverts concerning net zero
- successfully representing a leading UK supermarket in a judicial review of a decision by the UK advertising regulator by another leading supermarket
- assisting an online platform with a CMA investigation into fake and misleading reviews
- advising on Gutmann v LSER & Ors and Gutmann v GTR & Ors, two opt-out collective actions in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the CAT) in relation to the alleged misselling of specific rail tickets, known as “boundary fares”. The cases are at the forefront of the trend towards consumer protection issues being alleged to constitute abuses of dominance such that they can be made subject to collective proceedings in the CAT
