The final run-up to the DMCC’s consumer enforcement regime: what to expect on 6 April 2025

The Digital Markets, Competition & Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC) will come into force on 6 April 2025 and will reform consumer protection law and its enforcement in the UK, with the aim of improving consumer confidence.

What changes on 6 April 2025?

• A new regime for unfair commercial practices: While some of the unfair commercial practices are largely restated from the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (which are repealed by the DMCC), the DMCC also introduces new offences, such as fake reviews and drip pricing.
  
  Determining whether a practice is an unfair commercial practice involves consideration of the ‘average consumer’, including vulnerable consumers where relevant. The definition of a ‘vulnerable consumer’ is expanded under the DMCC to include circumstantial considerations, which could significantly change the market analysis to be undertaken as part of the ‘average consumer’ assessment.
   
• New enforcement powers of the CMA: This is the most significant change which will drastically change the risk profile for non-compliance. The CMA will have the power to investigate and impose fines of up to 10% of worldwide turnover, bringing the available investigatory powers and sanctions for breaches of consumer law into line with those for anti-competitive practices. This is likely to lead to a considerable increase in enforcement of consumer law in the UK given that private enforcement can be impractical, costly and time consuming.

The new rules for subscription contracts will not come into force until spring 2026.

What will the CMA focus on?

The CMA has stated that early enforcement action will focus on the most egregious breaches of consumer law, in instances where the law is already clear to businesses (see the CMA’s blog here). These types of breaches are likely to involve aggressive sales practices that prey on vulnerability, objectively false advertising, obviously imbalanced and unfair contractual terms, behaviour the CMA has previously enforced against and practices that are always considered unfair.

At the same time, the CMA has reassured businesses that it will support well-intentioned businesses where the law has been updated or there isn’t a clear-cut precedent. This will include a phased approach to enforcing new obligations:

• Drip pricing: Whilst the CMA will publish guidance on some aspects of drip pricing later this month, and begin enforcement of those rules, it will continue consulting on other aspects which have created uncertainty for businesses and hold off enforcement in those areas.
   
• Fake reviews: The CMA has promised a 3-month ‘grace period’ concerning fake reviews, during which it will focus on supporting businesses in bringing their practices into line with the new requirements. It remains to be seen whether this is a proportionate ‘grace period’ given that the new rules place positive obligations on all businesses for the first time, regardless of their size or how they incorporate reviews into their websites. For smaller businesses, achieving compliance with these positive obligations could be timely and costly.