We've had the longest day. It's July already. The Competition and Markets Authority has had its superpowers to enforce consumer law directly (under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024) for three months now. So, what are the key things you need to know from these first months?
Firstly, the CMA has not yet launched any new cases under its new powers. There's a possible clue as to why in a CMA speech given at the end of April by Emma Cochrane, the CMA's Acting Executive Director for Consumer Protection. She said that leading up to the new Act coming into force, the CMA had been monitoring the pricing practices of businesses but that many of the most serious and harmful examples of drip pricing were changed by April. However, she added a warning that not all have changed and of those that did, some will not have changed enough. In cases where there are still concerns, businesses can expect to hear from the CMA.
Secondly, in April, the CMA also announced a three-month enforcement hiatus in respect of the new banned practice regarding fake and misleading reviews. This, it said, was to respond to feedback and spend the first three months supporting businesses with their compliance efforts rather than enforcement. The hiatus is now over. Perhaps not a coincidence in timing, the CMA recently advised that it is conducting an initial "sweep of review platforms" to review the conduct of players across the sector, including businesses whose products and services are listed on review sites.
In June, the CMA announced it had agreed undertakings with Amazon about the steps Amazon agreed to take to protect consumers from fake and misleading reviews. These included having processes to detect and remove such reviews, to sanction businesses and reviewers and making it easy for customers and businesses to report suspicious activity. Although these undertakings were agreed under the old law, they clearly indicate the standards CMA might expect of those publishing consumer reviews under the new law.
Fourthly, pricing practices are still very much on the CMA's radar. In June, the CMA issued guidance about dynamic pricing. Hot off the press, the CMA has just issued a second consultation on drip pricing and the pricing information that should be provided upfront to consumers.
Finally, we should not forget that the subscriptions regime set out in the new Act has still not come into force. We are still waiting for the Department of Business and Trade's conclusions to its November 2024 consultation on the details of the regime. However, as far as we are aware, Spring 2026 is still the target implementation date.
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