UK Government to bring forward new subscription rules

We have written previously on the changes to subscription contracts imposed by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, but over the weekend prime minister Andy Burnham announced his intention to bring forward the implementation deadline for the subscription rules from Spring 2027 to January 2027.

You can read the previous article for a full breakdown of the changes coming, but at high level they introduce new cooling-off periods at the outset of a subscription and with each renewal as well as banning overly difficult cancellation processes.

The government is also looking to ban companies artificially inflating prices to pretend that discounts are larger than they actually are.

Takeaways

More information on this is expected in Autumn, but for companies this shows the importance of getting ahead now to make sure your processes and user journeys meet the new requirements.

The announcement also shows how much consumer rights remain a priority for the UK government, with increased scrutiny over B2C practices likely to continue.