Direct consumer protection enforcement: where will the CMA focus its efforts?

Authors

Nick Harrison

Associate

London

What's the development?

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) reforms the UK's consumer protection regime, including by introducing new rules for unfair commercial practices, replacing and updating the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTRs). As well as introducing enhanced provisions around fake reviews, drip pricing and subscription contracts, the DMCCA confers new powers on the regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The majority of these new rules and powers (but not those on subscription contracts) took effect on 6 April 2025.

The CMA now has the power to investigate and determine whether there has been a breach of the rules and – where there has - to impose fines (of up to £300k or 10% of a trader's annual worldwide turnover, whichever is higher) and/or other sanctions, without the need to go to court.

In the Q3 2024 edition of Advertising Quarterly, we shared an article by Jason Freeman, Director, CMA, outlining the CMA's new powers of direct enforcement and how the CMA intends to use them.

Since then, there have been a number of developments, including recently updated guidance published by the CMA, which have helped to clarify the CMA's areas of focus and approach to enforcement at least in the short term. We look at these developments and predict what's on the CMA's radar.

What has the CMA recently said about enforcement?

The CMA recently announced how it will exercise its new powers of direct enforcement in the short term, particularly in relation to the enhanced provisions in the DMCCA around fake reviews and drip pricing. It has said that:

Drip pricing - it will take a phased approach as regards drip pricing, as stated in finalised guidance on clearly unlawful drip pricing. The CMA is also re-consulting on those aspects of the guidance that have created uncertainty (such as pricing for fixed term periodic contracts) in the summer. In the meantime, it will only take enforcement action against clearly unlawful drip pricing. For what that means and our recommendations, see here.
Fake reviews - the CMA says that it recognises the need for the enhanced provisions around fake reviews to bed in and so will focus its efforts on supporting compliance, as opposed to enforcement, for the first three months following commencement. More on that here.
Everything else - although the remaining law where the CMA's new direct enforcement powers can be used hasn’t changed materially, the CMA recognises the risks to businesses of getting things wrong are substantially increasing. It therefore says that its early enforcement action following commencement of the DMCCA is likely to focus on more egregious breaches such as (a) providing information to consumers that is objectively false, (b) behaviour where the CMA has already put down a clear marker through its previous enforcement work and (c) practices that the law considers in all circumstances to be unfair (more on those and how they are changing here).

This is useful guidance and suggests that at least a short period of time will be given for businesses to ensure compliance with the new provisions on fake reviews, and that the short term focus will be on serious breaches.

What other information has the CMA published?

In April 2025, the CMA published three new or updated documents outlining its revised approach to consumer protection:

Approach document

This sets out the CMA's approach to consumer protection including its enforcement priorities for the first 12 months of the new DMCCA regime, which include:

Targeting harmful conduct which represents clear infringements of the law. Particular areas of focus are likely to include: aggressive sales practices involving vulnerable consumers; providing objectively false information; fake reviews (and other banned practices); drip pricing; and clearly unfair terms, such as unfair exit charges.
Continuing to prioritise areas of essential spend to help consumers struggling with pressure on household budgets.
Engagement with businesses to further develop materials to help businesses comply with the law.

This document also sets out how the CMA will implement the Strategic Steer (the government's priorities and expectations for the CMA) through implementing the ‘4Ps’ (the CMA's ways of working) which are echoed in several of the other documents. The 4Ps framework consists of embedding the following focus areas into the CMA's consumer protection work:

Pace – quickly and efficiently conducting investigations and reaching decisions
Predictability – promoting businesses' understanding of consumer law and minimising uncertainty by way of guidance, engagement and advice
Proportionality – exercising enforcement powers fairly and with appropriate prioritisation and
Process – encouraging direct engagement with business and promoting a wide understanding of the CMA's approach.

Revised consumer protection regime enforcement guidance (CMA58)

This sets out how the direct enforcement regime sits within the broader enforcement regime and covers when the CMA will exercise its new powers of direct enforcement (most of the time) as well as how it will continue to use its powers to bring civil and criminal enforcement through the courts. This document sits alongside the CMA's updated enforcement guidance (CMA200) which sets out the processes that the CMA will adopt when it takes direct enforcement action and which now includes detailed information on how monetary penalties may be assessed, including how turnover will be determined for the same purposes.

Streamlined guidance on unfair commercial practices

This is a simplified version of the unfair commercial practices guidance (CMA207) on which the CMA previously consulted (carving out areas of drip pricing on which it will re-consult). The final guidance has not changed much in substance as compared with the draft version (except in relation to drip pricing), not least because most unfair commercial practices have not changed materially under the DMCCA.

Of these, the approach document is the most instructive in terms of the CMA's areas of focus.

What practices and sectors have the CMA focused on?

A sense of the CMA's focus points can be gleaned from its draft annual plan for 2025-26 This suggests that:

Like last year, the CMA will broaden its work on problematic online choice architecture. This could mean more work on price reduction claims (was/now pricing) and urgency claims (scarcity, popularity, act fast or time limited claims) – practices on which the CMA has already put down a marker and on which the ASA continues to be engaged.
Tackling fake reviews will be near the top of the CMA's action list, following the bedding in period for the enhanced rules, as will tackling clearly unlawful drip pricing.
In time, other types of drip pricing and subscription contracts will come under the spotlight (more here).
Work will continue on other pricing practices such as dynamic pricing and unitary pricing.
Sectors such as travel, housing, online entertainment and those where the CMA has already set expectations (such as unregulated legal services and trader recommendation sites) will be under the spotlight.
We might also see further work in relation to green claims.

How does the CMA generally decide its priorities?

The CMA prioritises its work largely based on its prioritisation principles (CMA188). These principles include the likely impact, strategic significance, likelihood of success, and resource implications of action, with a focus on cases where there are systemic market problems or significant unfair treatment of consumers.

Where there are systemic market failures, the CMA will focus on areas where there is the possibility of achieving market-wide impact by setting a behavioural or legal precedent, or where there is a strong need for deterrence or compensation. From past experience, we know that this is likely to mean the CMA focusing on particular problematic practices (across several sectors) or particular sectors (where there might be one or more problematic practices).

In practice, a variety of factors go 'into the pot' for determining priorities, including whether particular businesses have complied with adverse rulings by other regulators (such as the ASA), what complaints the CMA or other enforcers have received, the outcome of market research (such as the Consumer Detriment Survey, to be published again in the spring) and what's going on in the market.

What has changed?

Enforcement actions might proceed more quickly given the CMA's new powers, as well as its duty of expedition and the emphasis on pace (one of the ‘4Ps’). We are also likely to see greater imposition of financial penalties on businesses for infringements of the DMCCA (as set out in the enforcement guidance (CMA200)) and possibly less reliance by the CMA on undertakings to settle cases.

What does this mean for you?

Businesses should be familiar with their new obligations in the DMCCA including those concerning drip pricing, fake reviews and (in time) subscriptions contracts. More generally, they should be familiar with all their consumer protection obligations. Reviewing guidance and monitoring ASA rulings can assist with understanding compliance obligations.
Having appropriate policies in place, auditing and refining practices, training staff and embedding compliance by design are all highlighted as being important in the CMA's enforcement guidance (CMA200).