Europe: Consumer Protection

The FCA's Director of Consumer Finance outlines an ambitious vision for modernising the UK's 50-year-old consumer credit regime through the Financial Services and Markets Bill. This transformation requires collaboration across industry stakeholders to create a flexible, outcomes-focused framework that accommodates emerging technologies like AI whilst maintaining robust consumer protections.

The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision allowing over 5,000 motor finance claims to proceed together using omnibus claim forms, despite the fact-specific nature of unfair relationship claims under the Consumer Credit Act. While emphasizing this was a decision on its own facts, the court's analysis of convenience factors and case management approaches offers important guidance for multi-party litigation.

Austria has enacted significant reforms to consumer protection law, introducing stricter requirements for retail lending and distance contracts.

New ASA rulings clarify when food advertising crosses the line from brand promotion to product-specific marketing under the UK's less healthy food restrictions. Two recent decisions involving McDonald's and Domino's reveal how naming specific menu items can determine whether an advert violates the pre-watershed ban, while a parliamentary committee now questions whether these distinctions should exist at all.

Turkey introduces sweeping reforms to its advertising regulations, establishing comprehensive rules for AI-generated content, social media influencer marketing, targeted advertising, and environmental claims. The amendments mandate transparency requirements for artificial intelligence use in advertising, impose strict disclosure standards for influencer partnerships, and introduce enhanced consumer protections for digital marketplaces and online reviews.

Turkish law has evolved significantly in addressing dark patterns—manipulative digital interface designs that steer consumers toward decisions contrary to their interests. The 2026 amendments to the Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices introduce comprehensive transparency obligations covering targeted advertising, AI-generated content, discount claims, and consumer reviews. How do these new provisions reshape the legal framework for protecting consumer autonomy in digit

Since our last podcast in July 2025, which covered the key features of the UK's enhanced consumer protection regime introduced under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act...

Dünyadaki diğer hukuk sistemlerinde ülkemize kıyasla daha erken tarihlerde gelişim gösteren genel işlem koşulları, sözleşmenin güçsüz tarafını, güçlü tarafça kendisine dayatılan uzun, karmaşık ve matbu sözleşme metinlerinin yorumlanması bakımından korumaya yönelik bir yasal düzenleme niteliği taşımaktadır. Türk hukukuna görece geç dahil olan bu yaklaşımın ilk yasal düzenlemesi, 4077 sayılı mülga Tüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun’a 4822 sayılı Kanun ile 6 Mart 2003 tarihinde eklenen ve “Sözleşmedeki Haksız Şartlar” kenar başlığını taşıyan 6. maddede yer almıştır.

General terms and conditions, which developed earlier in other legal systems compared to our country, constitute a type of legal regulation aimed at protecting the weaker party of a contract in terms of interpreting long, complex, and pre-formulated contract texts imposed upon them by the stronger party. The first legal regulation of this approach, which was relatively late to be incorporated into Turkish law, was included in Article 6 titled “Unfair Terms in Contracts,” added on March 6, 2003, to the repealed Consumer Protection Law No. 4077 by Law No. 4822.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched its first investigations under the enhanced consumer protection regime introduced by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act. These investigations target online pricing practices, pressure selling tactics, and fake or misleading consumer reviews, with three completed cases resulting in infringement decisions, penalties, and consumer redress measures. The CMA has also issued advisory letters to over a hundred businesses regarding compli

Ireland's Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 has reached full implementation with the commencement of section 18(4) on 13 May 2026, introducing new protections for innocent co-insureds affected by criminal or intentional acts of other policyholders. This final provision requires insurers to conduct individual factual assessments of each co-insured's knowledge and consent before applying criminal act exclusions, fundamentally changing how claims involving fraudulent co-insureds are handled.

The Competition and Markets Authority has dramatically increased its enforcement activity, imposing over £5.7M in fines in early 2026 and accelerating investigation timelines under new statutory duties. Businesses face heightened scrutiny across consumer protection practices, from advertising to commercial operations, requiring immediate attention to compliance frameworks and rapid-response capabilities.