New UK consumer protection regime will shortly come into force

Important consumer protection provisions of the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act) (477 pages/5.9 MB) will shortly come into force. The provisions include new “direct enforcement” powers afforded to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), stronger “court-based” enforcement powers, and substantive provisions on unfair commercial practices (UCPs) which replace and update previous UK consumer protection law on unfair trading practices that were contained in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs).

Under the new regime, “direct enforcement” powers can be exclusively used by the CMA. The powers are modelled on the CMA’s pre-existing antitrust enforcement powers, and place UK consumer protection law on par with competition law enforcement. The expanded “court-based” powers can be used by the CMA as well as various other UK enforcers, including sector regulators, and trading standards.

Tadeusz Gielas, competition and consumer law expert at Pinsent Masons, said: “The DMCC Act substantially increases the non-compliance risks for businesses – both consumer-facing traders, and manufacturers that market their products to consumers even if they do not sell directly to end-users. Consumer protection is expected to be a key area of CMA enforcement focus going forward, as highlighted in the CMA’s Annual Plan for 2025-26.”

“Other UK enforcers, such as sector regulators, may also step-up consumer law enforcement via the court-based regime. Interestingly, there have already been suggestions by the CMA, in its response to a UK government consultation, that it may be desirable for the new direct enforcement powers to be extended to Ofgem – a sector regulator – in relation to its consumer protection functions, although that would require legislative amendment,” said Gielas.

Leading up to the 6 April commencement date, the CMA has been actively developing new and revised guidance concerning both the new consumer protection enforcement regime – direct enforcement and court-based powers - and guidance covering compliance with substantive UCPs. The CMA’s CEO, Sarah Cardell, has recently confirmed that the three CMA guidance documents will be finalised by early April, with the direct enforcement guidance having already been finalised on 14 March.

The CMA will apply its ‘4 Ps’ framework - its focus on ‘pace’, ‘predictability’, ‘proportionality’ and ‘process’ - to the new consumer protection regime. This is driven by the CMA’s strong focus on driving economic growth and investment, set out in the UK government’s draft Strategic Steer to the CMA which also covers the CMA’s merger control work and its functions under the UK’s new digital markets competition regime. 

Mindful of these objectives, and the likely impact on UK businesses of the expanded and strengthened consumer protection enforcement regime, the CMA has committed to further actions to help businesses comply. This includes plans publish an “approach document” explaining how the CMA will implement the Strategic Steer, including the 4 Ps framework, to its consumer work and that in the first 12 months of the new regime it will prioritise tackling the “most egregious harms”.

The CMA has also committed to carrying out an extensive business outreach programme to help businesses achieve compliance, including CMA plans to publish accessible and interactive business explainers for important practices covered by CMA guidance. The regulator said it will also provide additional ‘drip pricing’ guidance by autumn this year, with plans to initially take a more restrained approach to enforcing the new prohibition on drip pricing until the further guidance is issued. The CMA will also adopt a measured approach to its enforcement of new UCP rules that prohibit “fake consumer reviews” during the first three months of the new regime coming into force, with the regulator instead focusing on supporting businesses in their compliance efforts.

Gielas said: “The CMA’s latest comments and further guidance are welcome, however businesses must nonetheless already be reviewing their marketing, consumer journey, and consumer complaints handling practices, as well as be updating their consumer protection compliance programmes and developing appropriate internal compliance training for staff, to the standards expected by the CMA.”

The new regime does not apply retrospectively to conduct that started and ended before the 6 April commencement date, and rules that existed before the DMCC Act regime will apply to those pre-commencement cases, including to any pending court action or legally binding undertakings given to the CMA. However, in ‘continuing conduct’ cases – where a consumer law breach started before but ended after the DMCC Act commencement date – the CMA may be able to use its new powers to investigate the entirety of the conduct, although monetary penalties can only be imposed in respect of infringing conduct occurring on or after 6 April 2025.

While the new substantive provisions bed down, the CMA will prioritise enforcement focusing on more egregious breaches – including aggressive sales practices that prey on vulnerability, providing information to consumers that is objectively false, and contract terms that are obviously imbalanced and unfair. The priorities will also focus on behaviour the CMA has targeted through its previous enforcement work, and situations where the law stipulates that a practice is always unfair.

An example of the CMA’s enforcement focus can be seen in its high-profile consumer law investigation into misleading pricing practices by Ticketmaster involving Oasis concert tickets. The CMA initially focused on suspected algorithm-driven ‘dynamic’ pricing but has now identified other concerns and is seeking to change the way in which Ticketmaster labels tickets and provides pricing information to consumers.

Other new substantive consumer law provisions introduced by the DMCC Act will commence at later dates. For example, provisions on consumer savings schemes will apply from 1 January 2026. The commencement date for new consumer law provisions applying to subscription contracts, and provisions concerning alternative dispute resolution in consumer contracts, is yet to be confirmed, although the new subscription contracts rules are not expected to apply until spring 2026 at the earliest.

The DMCC Act also created a new UK digital markets competition regime – which broadly aligns with the EU’s Digital Markets Act – and bolstered a range of wider pre-existing UK competition laws.  Those DMCC Act provisions fully came into force on 1 January.