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It's now 6 months since most of the consumer law provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force, giving the UK one of the toughest enforcement regimes in the world. We look at the latest state of play and what B2C businesses can expect over the next 6-12 months.
1 A significantly increased risk profile for B2C businesses
Most of the consumer law provisions of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) came into force on 6 April 2025. Among other things, the legislation gave the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) a raft of tough new enforcement powers, including the power to impose fines of up to 10% of turnover for breaches of UK consumer law. This has significantly increased the risk profile for consumer-facing businesses in the UK, particularly as regards potential financial exposure – not just from fines but also from redress orders requiring consumers to be compensated for harms suffered.
When can we expect the CMA to use its new enforcement powers?
The CMA is understood to be looking at potential cases for the first use of its new powers under the DMCCA. The lack of immediate action does not mean that the regulator intends to take a "softly softly" approach over the medium to longer term. From the CMA's perspective, it makes sense not to be over-hasty in terms of enforcement at a point where the mere introduction of the new regime may be sufficient to prompt at least some businesses to "raise their game" in terms of compliance. However, the regulator has been instructed by Government to make use of its new powers under the DMCCA – so as regards enforcement, the question is more "when" rather than "if".
From the regulator's perspective, the ideal "first case" would involve a reasonably high-profile business or sector and a serious breach of consumer law – enabling the CMA to impose a significant penalty and perhaps even make an order to compensate affected consumers. It will also want to be reasonably confident that its ultimate decision will stand a good chance of surviving any appeal – a significant reversal early on in the new regime could weaken its deterrent effect. In view of this, it's not particularly surprising that we are yet to see the CMA "flexing its muscles" in a significant way in the consumer protection space. Even so, as we highlight in section 2 below, the CMA has already begun the process of enforcing new rules on fake and misleading consumer reviews – having allowed businesses a 3-month grace period in which to comply.
Individuals could be sanctioned too
Finally, it's worth noting that the DMCCA also allows fines of up to £300,000 to be imposed on certain individuals – including directors and senior managers – based on their involvement in consumer law breaches.
2 What else should B2C businesses be watching out for?
The DMCCA also made a number of important changes to the substance of UK consumer law. Many businesses targeting consumers are likely to need to take action in order to comply with these new rules.
Fake or misleading consumer reviews
The DMCCA imposes new requirements on businesses to prevent the publication of fake reviews or misleading review information. It also prohibits the commissioning of fake reviews and the publication of "concealed incentivised reviews" (where the consumer was e.g. given the product for free in return for providing a review - but the incentivisation has not been made clear). Our briefing Fake or misleading consumer reviews: time's running out to put your house in order explains the risks in more detail and provides a helpful checklist of issues to consider.
Given the new duty to take "reasonable and proportionate steps" to prevent fake or misleading reviews, our view is that most B2C businesses will need to take at least some action to comply – even if they don't host reviews on their own websites, but rely instead on third party platforms such as Google, Trustpilot or specialist sectoral sites (such as carehome.co.uk for the eldercare sector). In the light of recent CMA guidance, most will also need to consider whether they should have a published policy on fake and misleading reviews – and it's worth noting that the CMA has recently conducted a "web sweep" to test compliance with this aspect. In over half the cases it looked at, B2C businesses either did not have a policy at all, or it was difficult to find and/or deficient in certain respects.
Misleading pricing
The CMA has also been consulting on draft guidance setting out how prices should be presented to consumers – including delivery charges, booking or admin fees, local taxes, joining fees and other sums that may make up the total price for a product or service. It is particularly concerned about misleading "headline" prices, which don't include additional charges that most consumers will end up having to pay. Our briefing explains how the DMCCA tightens up the law in this area, in particular by making significantly easier for regulators such as the CMA to enforce. It also explains some of the key issues you may want to consider when it comes to the price-related content of promotional material.
Subscription contracts
Consumer-facing businesses which rely on a subscription model will also need to plan ahead for the complex and prescriptive new DMCCA regime for subscription contracts. This requires B2C businesses to give consumers a 2-week "cancellation window" at least every 6 months and to send reminders ahead of any renewal payments. Although not expected to be brought into force until April 2026 at the earliest, it is quite likely to necessitate changes to sign-up and customer relationship management processes. Look out for our briefing on this in the coming months.
Online sales and "dark patterns"
Before the DMCCA came into force, the CMA initiated court action against the Emma Group, an e-commerce mattress seller, over some of its online sales practices. These include countdown timers which – in the CMA's view - create a misleading sense of urgency, designed to pressure the consumer into making a quick purchase (and to deter from them making comparisons with other, competing offerings). Such allegedly manipulative practices are sometimes referred to as "dark patterns" and the CMA has previously carried out research into this area.
Although the action is being taken under the pre-DMCCA framework, any court ruling is likely to be of considerable interest to businesses selling to consumers online – and may well influence the CMA's approach to the exercise of its much stronger DMCCA powers. Dark patterns also appear to be a key focus of the EU's proposed Digital Fairness Act – which we will be discussing in more detail in the coming months. Lastly, the fact that the CMA has gone to court in this case highlights its willingness to take enforcement action on consumer law – and as noted in section 1 above, its DMCCA powers mean that in future, it will be able to take direct action against alleged infringements, without having to ask a court to enforce on its behalf.
3 What should UK B2C businesses be doing now?
Faced with a substantial increase in the risk of non-compliance under the DMCCA, consumer-facing businesses need to consider whether they are doing enough to limit their exposure. Key questions to ask include:
- Are we in a higher risk category? (see section 3 of this briefing)
- Has the CMA - or its predecessor, the OFT – investigated our sector in the past?
- Are we sitting on any "ticking time bombs" in terms of our existing practices and processes involving consumers? Just because regulators have not seen fit to investigate in the past doesn't mean they will adopt this approach in future, now that they have much stronger powers at their disposal and a mandate from Government to use them. Remember that the CMA is actively looking for enforcement targets.
- Are our existing processes (e.g. customer sign-up) likely to remain compliant and if not, how easy would it be upgrade them to e.g. meet the new rules on subscription contracts or misleading/fake reviews? Are there any longer term projects where the specification may need to be adapted to take account of the DMCCA?
- Does our approach to pricing in sales/promotional material risk falling foul of the stricter rules in the DMCCA?
- Are relevant staff – particularly those in sales roles – aware of the risks that infringing consumer law poses to the business? Do staff need a refresher on what types of behaviour or practices are likely to be problematic?
- Do we have a plan for how we would respond if investigated by the CMA for breaches of consumer law? The DMCCA also significantly strengthens the CMA's investigatory powers and fines can be imposed for non-compliance with e.g. information requests.
4 How can we help
In marked contrast to many of our competitors, our approach to consumer law draws on the combined expertise of two practice areas:
- our top-ranked Technology and Commercial Transactions team, which has extensive experience of advising businesses on issues such as consumer-facing terms, sales practices and promotions; and
- our highly regarded Competition team, which has extensive experience of CMA and other regulatory investigations.
We can help you ensure your business is insulated from the most punitive aspects of the new regime, whilst equipping you with strategies for anticipating and managing CMA interventions. We can also help you understand how the consumer law aspects of the DMCCA interact with its other provisions and other legislation – and how you can use the regulatory framework to gain competitive advantage. To find out more, please speak to any of the contacts listed below.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
