CMA Launches First Investigations Under Its New Consumer Protection Regime

On 18 November 2025 the CMA announced the first investigations launched under the new strengthened consumer protection regime introduced under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act 2024 (DMCC Act). The new regime took effect on 6 April this year, introducing a new direct enforcement regime for the CMA and making a number of changes to the substantive law, to ensure the regime keeps pace with market developments, in particular the trend towards online retail and advertising (see our detailed briefing on the new regime here).

The CMA's approach document, setting out its enforcement priorities for the first 12 months of the new regime, indicates that its early enforcement will focus on the most serious infringements such as aggressive sales practices that prey on vulnerability, providing information to consumers that is objectively false, fees that are hidden until late in the purchase process and contract terms that are very obviously imbalanced and unfair.

First formal investigations under the new regime

The first investigations, into eight businesses, are focused on online pricing practices, including drip pricing and pressure selling. The updated consumer protection regime contains new provisions to address the issue of drip pricing, where consumers are shown an initial base price with additional fees only revealed once they proceed to checkout. This is dealt with under the unfair commercial practice of omitting material information from an invitation to purchase, which is one of the unfair commercial practices that will always be prohibited, regardless of their impact on the average consumer's decision.

Businesses now have a duty to indicate the total price in an invitation to purchase, including all mandatory fees, taxes and charges, such as booking fees and delivery charges or other payments the customer will necessarily have to pay to purchase the product. For variable mandatory fees, such as delivery fees, where it is not possible to calculate these in advance, it should be made clear along the headline price that these will be added and how they will be calculated.

Online choice architecture, which looks at harmful online sales practices, including pressure selling tactics such as urgent time limited claims, are also one of the CMA's early enforcement priorities.

• Two secondary ticketing sites, StubHub and viagogo, are being investigated over potential drip pricing conduct, with certain mandatory charges not included in the upfront price, which is the invitation to purchase
• Two driving schools, the AA Driving School and BSM Driving School, are similarly being investigated over the display of their prices with mandatory fees not included in the invitation to purchase
• Gold's Gym is under investigation over how it presents a one-off joining fee, which is not included in the advertised membership costs but is introduced part-way through the sign-up process
• Three homeware retailers, Wayfair, Appliances Direct and Marks Electrical, are under investigation for online pressure selling, in particular whether their time-limited sales ended when they indicated they would, and whether customers are being automatically opted in to purchasing additional services

Advisory letters targeting potential concerns in a wide range of sectors

The CMA has also sent advisory letters to 100 businesses flagging its concerns around drip pricing (with additional fees not included in the invitation to purchase) and other unfair online sales tactics. The letters were sent to businesses in a wide range of sectors, including:

Holidays, driving schools, homeware retailers, rail travel, parking and airport parking, bus and coach travel, luggage store providers, cinemas, live event tickets, food and drink delivery companies, letter and parcel delivery, gyms and fitness, fashion, online vouchers.

The CMA sends advisory letters to businesses where it believes they may be infringing consumer protection rules but for which it is not currently launching a formal investigation. The letters put businesses on notice to review their practices to ensure they comply with the law. Failure to do so will result in future enforcement action. Ignoring an advisory letter can also lead to more severe penalties if the CMA later launches a formal investigation into the same practices.

CMA publishes updated price transparency guidance

The CMA has now also published its final price transparency guidance (CMA209) on which it consulted over the summer.

This followed feedback received from stakeholders that the CMA's general unfair commercial practices guidance was insufficiently clear and detailed around the more complex issues involved in presenting the total price for different scenarios and sectors.

The final guidance expands on the key provisions such as the concept of an invitation to purchase and the pricing information to be included in the invitation to purchase. It expands on the distinction between mandatory charges, which must be included in the total price, and optional charges which do not have to be included, provided they are genuinely optional. This is further illustrated with practical worked examples. There is additional guidance on specific charges such as pre-transaction charges, mandatory and optional delivery charges, local charges and taxes, the display of periodic pricing and of targeted price reductions.

Clear and accurate pricing for consumers is one of the CMA's priorities under its consumer protection regime, as it is important for consumer trust and confidence and also ensures that businesses are competing on a level playing field. The package of measures announced today by the CMA confirms this is indeed a key priority for the CMA and businesses should carefully consider and review their pricing practices to make sure that they comply with the unfair commercial practices provisions of the DMCC Act.

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.