Consumer reforms
Direct CMA enforcement, tougher penalties and enhanced consumer protection laws
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 2027). Global businesses in every sector should review the way they offer their products and services to UK consumers.
In addition to its ability to enforce the consumer protection provisions of the DMCC Act, the CMA also has new powers to directly investigate and enforce breaches of certain other consumer protection legislation, including notably parts of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (which, among other things, prohibits unfair terms in consumer contracts).
DMCC – Client Toolkit
Consumer reforms
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. Following re-consultation, the CMA published further guidance on the more complex elements of the prohibited practice of drip pricing in November 2025 (here).
In a blog published on 10 March 2025, the CMA explained that it would 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.
The CMA issued its first penalty under its new consumer powers in February 2026, for a failure by a business to respond to a request for information (see announcement here).
The CMA opened its first investigations under the DMCC Act:
- in respect of online pricing practices, in November 2025 (see announcement here). It subsequently issued its first financial penalties for substantive breaches of the consumer law provisions of the DMCC Act in:
- April 2026, fining the AA £4.2million and requiring it to refund affected drivers of AA Driving School and BSM over £760,000 in relation to drip pricing of mandatory booking fees (see announcement here);
- June 2026, fining StubHub £900,000 and requiring it to refund affected customers over £590,000 in relation to drip pricing of mandatory fees (see announcement here); and
- June 2026, fining Marks Electrical £720,000 and requiring it to refund affected customers £600,000 in relation to automatically opting consumers in to extra services (see announcement here); and
- in respect of fake reviews, in March 2026, stating in its announcement that it was “looking at the key stages in the online reviews ecosystem – from how reviews are obtained, to the way they are moderated and displayed, to the star ratings people so often rely on. By taking cases across each of these stages, the CMA is investigating multiple practices that can shape what people see when they search, shop or book online”.
The CMA also opened its first investigations into unfair contract terms, using its new DMCC Act powers, in:
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 “greenwashing” 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
