So…where to start?

To date, in response to the consumer law changes introduced by the DMCC, the CMA has published the following documents:

• An approach document, which outlines its enforcement priorities and approach to implementing its consumer protection strategy.
• Direct consumer enforcement guidance, which sets out how the CMA will exercise its new out-of-court direct enforcement powers under the DMCC, including enforcement processes, engagement expectations, and criteria for determining monetary penalties.
• Consumer protection enforcement guidance, which summarises the CMA’s existing consumer protection powers, detailing its roles in criminal and civil court-based enforcement, and clarifying its functions within the international enforcement landscape.
• Unfair commercial practices guidance, which provides clarity on the interpretation of existing, new, and revised rules on prohibited practices, invitations to purchase, misleading actions and omissions, and other unfair commercial practices. Separately, the CMA published some additional examples of unfair practices.
• Fake reviews guidance, which outlines the CMA’s expectations for compliance with the new DMCC rules on fake reviews.
• A technical note, which provides a useful summary of all the consumer changes introduced by the DMCC.
• A consultation on draft price transparency guidance launched on 3 July 2025, which sets out how to present total prices, including mandatory fees, and addresses practices such as drip pricing and partitioned pricing. The consultation closes on 8 September 2025.

On top of that, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has updated the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code) – which governs non-broadcast advertisements, sales promotions, and direct marketing – and the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (BCAP Code) – which applies to advertisements and programme sponsorship on TV and radio services licensed by Ofcom – to align rules for advertisements with the new DMCC requirements. Look out for our deeper dive into this topic soon.

Casting a wider net: news from the UCP Guidance

The Unfair Commercial Practices Guidance (UCP Guidance) offers practical insights into how the new DMCC rules are expected to work. It explains key concepts and clarifies what constitutes banned practices, misleading actions or omissions, aggressive behaviour, and offences related to unfair commercial practices.

One of the big takeaways? The rules cast a wide net. The act or omission only needs to relate to the promotion or supply of a product. That means that if a trader promotes or supplies products, such as by providing information on a website, they need to ensure they are compliant with the DMCC, even if they don’t sell directly to consumers. The guidance also makes clear that online platforms enabling others to promote or supply products are within scope.

The UCP Guidance also reiterates that there may be multiple parties involved in promoting or supplying a product – manufacturers, retailers, marketers, brand representatives, and others – and the practices of each may fall within the scope of the DMCC’s provisions. When investigating a potential breach, the CMA will consider which party is the most appropriate to examine and best positioned to address any issues.

Enforcement fast approaching

In its approach document, the CMA has laid out a more detailed roadmap for enforcement, building on the direct consumer enforcement guidance and consumer protection enforcement guidance.

The CMA has signalled that the first 12 months of enforcement will focus on the worst offenders – those engaging in the most egregious and clear-cut breaches of consumer law. This includes aggressive sales tactics targeting vulnerable consumers or providing blatantly false information. These are top of the CMA’s list.

Also firmly in the crosshairs – and explicitly listed as a priority – are unfair contract terms, especially those with clearly imbalanced provisions, such as excessive or unjustified exit fees. While unfair terms have long been on the CMA’s radar, the shift in enforcement powers and regulatory risk profile means this is an ideal time to give your terms of service a careful and critical review. The CMA-commissioned Consumer Detriment Survey 2024, which explores the key issues consumers are facing, reinforces similar themes. Consumers flagged misleading information, incorrect pricing, and unfair terms and conditions as being particularly detrimental, further cementing these practices as potentially high priorities on the CMA’s enforcement radar. In its additional findings report, the CMA highlighted that certain consumer groups – such as young people, individuals with long-term health conditions or disabilities, and those experiencing financial hardship – are more susceptible to detriment and may suffer more severe consequences as a result. While this is not a definitive conclusion, it suggests that consumer practices impacting these vulnerable groups could become a particular focus of the CMA’s scrutiny.

In addition, the CMA will focus on areas where clear precedent already exists – whether through previous CMA actions, established guidance, or rulings by bodies such as the ASA. This includes well-trodden issues such as influencer advertising and endorsements, greenwashing, misleading claims, reference pricing, and other practices previously highlighted in the CMA’s investigations.

The CMA will also prioritise areas of essential spend to support consumers facing pressure on household budgets. While a definitive list is yet to be published, amenities providers, travel companies, and key retailers may face close scrutiny.

However, it’s not all about regulatory crackdown. The CMA is also prioritising proactive engagement – particularly in areas where case law is sparse – and healthy, fair competition. The publications suggest that we can expect clearer, more accessible guidance developed in collaboration with businesses to support compliance, as well as dedicated events such as roundtables to engage directly with stakeholders about the rules.

Fines and offences

As mentioned above, the CMA now possesses enhanced direct enforcement powers, enabling it to enforce consumer protection laws without the need to pursue court action. However, the DMCC also introduces updates to the court-based enforcement procedure. As highlighted in our previous article, this approach bears a strong resemblance to the framework established under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The structure of the direct enforcement powers is designed to encourage change yet discourage breaches. When the CMA has reasonable grounds to suspect that a business has breached consumer law, it may issue a provisional infringement notice (PIN) outlining the alleged infringements, proposed penalties, and any required corrective actions. Businesses are then invited to provide a written and/or oral representation. After considering these representations, the CMA may issue a final infringement notice (FIN) if it determines a breach has occurred. A FIN can include legally binding directions, enhanced consumer measures (ECMs), and significant monetary penalties. ECMs were already a part of the previous regime and include remedies designed to protect consumers. They could require businesses to provide redress (e.g., refunds or compensation), implement operational changes to ensure future compliance, or help consumers make informed choices through improved transparency. The FIN may also require the business to publish the notice or issue a corrective statement to address any ongoing harm. Where appropriate, these obligations can be extended to related companies within the same corporate group.

In digital contexts, the CMA may also issue an online interface notice (OIN), which requires businesses to take action against infringing online content. This may include modifying or removing infringing material – such as deceptive webpages or false claims – displaying prominent warnings to consumers, or even deleting a fully qualified domain name. The CMA may also take steps to facilitate the transfer or re-registration of that domain name under its control.

Businesses receiving a FIN or OIN may appeal to the High Court (or the equivalent in Scotland or Northern Ireland). Appeals must be filed within 28 or 60 days, depending on the measure, and may lead to the decision being confirmed, varied, overturned, or remitted to the CMA for reconsideration.

The DMCC also provides a settlement route: if a business admits the infringement, the CMA may reduce the penalty by up to 40% if settlement is reached before a PIN is issued, or by up to 25% if settled after a PIN has been served. As under the previous consumer regime, the business may offer undertakings where the CMA has not yet issued a FIN or OIN. In contrast to settlement, undertakings do not require an admission of liability or payment of a penalty. The CMA has broad discretion over whether to accept undertakings and in which cases. It is more likely to accept undertakings if (a) they fully address its concerns, including steps to remedy consumer harm (e.g., removing unfair terms, releasing consumers from contracts, ceasing harmful conduct, or paying redress), and (b) they can be implemented effectively and promptly.

In its approach document, the CMA confirmed that the new enforcement powers will not apply retrospectively. Monetary penalties can be imposed only for conduct that occurs after the commencement date of the new regime and can be up to 10% of the global turnover or £300,000. While the CMA has indicated that fines are likely to be lower during the early stages of enforcement, it has also emphasised that it will not hesitate to set firm precedents to deter undesirable market behaviour. It is also worth noting that the previous law, under which monetary penalties are not available, will continue to apply in certain cases. These include: (i) infringements that took place before the commencement date and do not continue past April 2025; (ii) breaches of court orders or undertakings given to the court under the old law (unless the breach occurs after April 2025); and/or (iii) the continuation and completion of court proceedings that started before the commencement date.

The approach document also outlines the CMA’s preference for resolving enforcement cases early through settlements where appropriate. Key to this process is cooperation: businesses are expected to fully comply with information requests and respond promptly. The CMA has stressed the importance of businesses clearly communicating any issues they are willing to resolve at the early stages of an investigation.

Like the previous regime, the DMCC establishes several offences for breaches of consumer law, with one key addition: a new standalone offence for failing to provide essential information in invitations to purchase (i.e., communications that include a product and its price). On the positive side, fake reviews are not subject to criminal enforcement. These offences are strict liability, meaning the prosecution doesn’t need to prove intent – only that the act or omission occurred. Moreover, individuals can be convicted if their actions cause another person to commit an offence. Defences such as due diligence (relying on information from others) and innocent publication are available, but the burden of proof lies with the defendant. If an offence occurs with the consent or neglect of a corporate officer, both the officer and the company can be prosecuted.

What’s next?

With the DMCC’s new regime now in force, the regulatory landscape is set to evolve further as the CMA and other authorities continue to clarify expectations and operationalise the DMCC’s requirements. In addition to the core guidance already released, businesses should be aware that the CMA’s focus is not limited to general consumer protection – recent months have seen the publication of targeted guidance on high-risk areas such as fake reviews and price transparency, both of which are now subject to more prescriptive rules. Looking further ahead, the introduction of strengthened subscription rules in spring 2026 will bring another layer of compliance obligations.

The regulatory environment will remain dynamic, with the CMA committed to ongoing engagement and the publication of additional guidance as new issues arise. Businesses should monitor for updates not only from the CMA but also from the ASA, which is aligning advertising codes with DMCC requirements. Staying ahead of these developments – and embedding flexibility into compliance programmes – will be essential as the DMCC’s full impact unfolds over the coming year.

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