Reed Smith In-depth

Key takeaways

  • The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has increased the scope of practices potentially considered commercially unfair, aiming to ensure consumer choice and fairness for businesses.
  • The CMA now has direct investigation and enforcement powers, including bringing criminal prosecutions and enforcing severe monetary penalties.
  • The Act also tackles new issues by prohibiting fake reviews and prescribing how businesses should handle subscription contracts.

Authors: Marjorie C. Holmes Emma Weeden Vaibhav Adlakha Pratheeba Vachiraveel

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (the Act), in addition to introducing the digital markets regime1 and enhancing the competition regime,2 has introduced amendments to the current consumer protection regime, set to come into force in spring 2025. The consumer protection regime is expected to impact all businesses which sell to UK consumers as the Act will confer on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stronger enforcement powers equivalent to those of the competition regime.

Updates to the UK consumer protection regime

1. Prohibited practices

Practices are automatically prohibited if they fall in any of the following categories: omission of material information from an invitation to purchase; violation of one of the 32 banned practices specified by the Act; and promotion of unfair commercial practices in a code of conduct.

  • Invitation to purchase: When businesses make any invitation to purchase, they must ensure that they include information required by the Act.