The DMCC Act will dramatically change the consumer protection landscape in the UK. Not only will the CMA get much stronger investigatory and enforcement powers, but underlying consumer laws will also be enhanced . Fake reviews will be 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) will be 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. Global businesses in every sector should review the way they offer their products and services to UK consumers.
*The DMCC Act received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 and is now law. The majority of consumer law reforms entered into effect on 6 April 2025, while the provisions on subscription contracts will follow in spring 2026.
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. Further guidance on the more complex elements of the prohibited practice of drip pricing is expected to be published in Autumn 2025 (following consultation over the summer).
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 they mention 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
