What's the issue?
The new competition regime under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) came into force on 1 January 2025, but the consumer protection elements will be brought in more gradually. This is partly because the government and the Competition and Markets Authority are consulting on guidance and measures.
What's the development?
Towards the end of 2024, the government and CMA launched a series of consultations and some draft legislation in preparation for implementing the consumer protection elements of the DMCCA.
Subscription contracts
At the end of 2024, the government published a consultation on proposals for the implementation of the subscription contracts regime under the DMCCA. It covers cooling-off cancellation rights, returns and refunds, remedies for breach of duties, repayment of refunds, contractual terms for exiting a contract and associated arrangements, information notices and pre-contractual information. The consultation closes on 10 February 2025 and the new regime is not expected to apply before Spring 2026. Impacted businesses should consider responding to the consultation. Read our in-depth article about the proposals here.
Enforcement
On 11 December 2024, the CMA published a consultation on draft guidance on its enforcement powers and policy under the DMCCA. The draft guidance provides a summary of the CMA's powers and functions including the new direct enforcement powers which will be introduced by the DMCCA. It sets out the legislation under which the CMA has enforcement powers, the way it cooperates with domestic and international partners, how it decides whether to take enforcement action and how it prioritises action, the use of civil and criminal consumer enforcement powers and the powers available to the CMA and other enforcers to investigate civil and criminal breaches of consumer law. The consultation closed on 22 January 2025. Once the guidance is finalised, it will replace the existing 2016 version. Consumer facing businesses will be particularly interested in the sections around the CMA's incoming direct enforcement powers under the DMCCA.
Unfair commercial terms
On 11 December 2024, the CMA launched a consultation on new draft guidance on the unfair commercial practices regime under the DMCCA. This regime will replace the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and is expected to be brought into application in April 2025. The draft guidance has been updated from the current OFT 2008 guidance to take account of new banned practices including on drip pricing and fake online reviews, and to take into account other changes to CPRs. These are helpfully listed in Annex C. The consultation closes on 22 January 2025.
Continuity
The draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025 (draft Regulations) were published on 18 December 2024. The draft Regulations make the necessary provisions to incorporate parts of the DMCCA into existing consumer law frameworks to ensure a consistent regime.
Transparency and disclosure
On 19 December 2024, the CMA published revised guidance on its policy and approach to transparency and disclosure (CMA6) which took effect on 1 January 2025. The guidance has been updated to take into account the DMCCA and covers investigative assistance to overseas authorities and new functions including new consumer protection direct enforcement powers. The guidance also clarifies current CMA practice and takes into account information law developments. The final version has not changed significantly since the consultation draft published in May 2024.
What does this mean for you?
If you are a consumer facing business you may want to consider feeding into the consultations that are currently open, particularly if you offer subscription contracts. The draft enforcement guidance is also worth reading to get an indication of how the wider consumer protection regime will work, in particular in terms of the CMA's enforcement powers and priorities.
