Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act

Overview

Since 6 April 2025, unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices have been regulated under Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (known as the DMCCA).

The DMCCA revokes and replaces the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 for all unfair commercial practices that occur on or continue on after that date, though the old regulations continue to apply to unfair commercial practices that occurred before then.

Where unfair commercial practices happen after 6 April, consumers can also continue to ask for things to be put right according to what they're entitled to under the old regulations, until the new entitlements under the DMCCA come into effect.

The DMCCA largely recreates the legal effect (with minor amendments) of the old regulations. It has the same core objective of protecting consumers from unfair commercial practices.

What is an unfair commercial practice under the DMCCA?

Unfair commercial practices include:

• Omitting material information from an invitation to purchase (ITP), which includes a ban on drip pricing.
• The 32 commercial practices that are specified in Schedule 20 of the DMCCA, which includes as paragraph 13 new banned commercial practices relating to fake and misleading consumer reviews.
• Promoting unfair commercial practises in codes of conduct.

They also include any commercial practices that are banned because they're likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision they would not otherwise have made. E.g.

• Misleading actions
• Misleading omissions
• Aggressive practices
• Failing to meet professional standards.

What does transactional decision mean?

A transactional decision is any decision a consumer makes about a product (goods, services, or digital content), including whether, how, and on what terms to buy, keep, return, sell, cancel or use any contractual rights related to it.

A transaction does not have to take place for a decision to count as a transactional decision - it also includes choices about whether to act or not. A transactional decision includes decisions made before, during, or after a transaction.

For example, it includes deciding whether to visit a shop or buy online, whether to view or purchase a product, or whether to exercise a cancellation right or pay a debt.

What does commercial practice mean?

Under the DMCCA, a commercial practice is any act or omission by you related to promoting or supplying a product (goods, services, or digital content). This applies whether you:

• promote your own products or those of another seller,
• encourage a consumer to supply a product to a seller; or
• facilitate consumers to trade with one another.

Activities of online platforms that help promote or supply products (whether to consumers, from consumers or between consumers) are also covered.

Examples include using an online platform to buy used cars from consumers, asking consumers to donate clothes, or running a platform where consumers buy and sell to each other.

When transactional decisions are involved, a commercial practice includes anything you do or fail to do that influences the consumer's decision in a transaction.

The commercial practices covered by the DMCCA include those that take place before, during, or after the transaction and may involve a single act, omission, or course of conduct. Advertising, sales, supplies, after-sales services, and debt collection, for example, are all considered commercial practices.

Who is the average consumer?

The average consumer in the context of unfair commercial practices is someone who is reasonably well-informed, observant, and cautious. However, if you conceal information in a commercial practice, the average consumer will be treated as unaware of that information, even if they might know it from another source.

If a commercial practice targets a particular group of consumers, the average consumer will be the average member of that group. However, if you can reasonably be expected to foresee that the group is particularly vulnerable to a commercial practice (e.g. due to the selling techniques used) or to the product itself (e.g. products aimed at a specific vulnerable group) and so causes them to make a transactional decision they otherwise would not have made, the average consumer is considered as the average member of that vulnerable group.

To work out if a consumer belongs to a vulnerable group, you must consider factors such as age, physical or mental health, credulity, and their current situation. This includes life circumstances like recent unemployment, divorce, or losing a loved one, as these can affect a person's ability to make informed decisions.

These considerations are explained in more detail, with examples, in the guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority.

What are misleading actions in unfair commercial practices?

Misleading actions include providing false or misleading information or making an overall presentation likely to deceive the average consumer. Even if the information or content of the presentation is true, it will still be considered a misleading action under the DMCCA if it misleads or deceives them.

Both marketing a product in a way that creates confusion with a competitor's products and falsely claiming to comply with a required code of practice are regarded as misleading actions.

What are misleading omissions in unfair commercial practices?

Misleading omissions include failing to give material information that the average consumer needs to make an informed transactional decision, or not supplying information required by law.

If you don't explain the intent of a commercial practice, when it is not already clear from the context, this will also be regarded as a misleading omission. Even if you provide the necessary information, it's still a misleading omission if it's unclear, delayed or hard to access.

However, when deciding if a commercial practice is a misleading omission, consideration will be given to any limitations (e.g. time and space) of the communication method you use and any steps you take to overcome these limitations (e.g. giving information in a different way).

What are aggressive practices in unfair commercial practices?

Aggressive sales practices refer to any behaviour by you that involves harassment, coercion, or undue influence.

To decide whether a sales practice is aggressive, the courts will consider the following:

• The nature of the practice, its timing and location
• Whether you use any threatening or abusive language
• Whether you take advantage of the consumer's vulnerability
• Whether you make false legal threats
• Whether the practice makes it unreasonably difficult for a consumer to use their rights - for example, to cancel, return, or complain about a product
• Whether you exploit a position of power over the consumer, by pressuring them in a way that significantly limits their ability to make an informed decision.

Fake Reviews

The DMCCA introduced new banned practices, specifically aimed at addressing fake reviews.

The following practices are now banned:

• Submitting or commissioning someone else to submit or write fake reviews
• Hiding the fact that a consumer review has been incentivised
• Publishing consumer reviews or review information in a misleading way, even if the content of the review is true
• Failing to take reasonable steps to prevent the publication of consumer reviews that fall into the above categories, or failing to remove them if they've already been published.

These banned practices are listed in paragraph 13 of Schedule 20 of the DMCCA, which outlines 32 commercial practices considered unfair in all circumstances, even if they do not directly influence the consumer's decision to make a purchase.

What is a consumer review?

A consumer review is a review of a product, a seller, or anything relevant to the consumer when deciding whether to proceed with a transaction.

The review is provided by a consumer who has supposedly acquired the product and is sharing their personal experience of it. It includes reviews of the quality of the product and other related aspects, such as delivery, after-sales services, and complaint handling.

It can take various forms, including text on your website or in a blog post, speech (such as in a video posted online), or graphic form, such as a star rating on your website.

What is a fake review?

A fake review pretends to be based on the consumer's firsthand knowledge and experience of the product and seller, but isn't. Fake reviews can be positive or negative.

Fake positive reviews make false claims about the consumer's satisfaction with the product or dealings with the seller, in an attempt to boost the ratings of the seller or product and encourage more sales.

Fake negative reviews aim to wrongfully undermine a seller or the popularity of the product, without any firsthand knowledge or experience of either.

What is an incentivised review?

A review is banned if it's been incentivised and doesn't clearly state that fact, even if the review is true. Incentives include money or commissions, discounts, gifts or free products or a financial interest in the business or product.

Invitations to Purchase (ITP) and drip pricing

An ITP is a commercial practice that provides information to a consumer about a product's characteristics and price, enabling them to decide whether to buy it or make another related transactional decision.

An ITP can take many forms. For example, it could be a price tag on a product in a shop, an item listing on a webpage, or a TV or magazine commercial.

An ITP can exist even before it is possible to buy the product. For instance, a poster containing a description or photo of the product and the price is still considered an ITP, even if there is no information on how or where to buy it.

Under the DMCCA, leaving material information out of an ITP is an unfair commercial practice, even if the omission does not directly influence the consumer's decision on whether to proceed with a transaction.

Material information includes the following:

• The main characteristics of the product.
• The total price of the product including any fees, taxes, charges or other payments that are required. If the whole or any part of the total price can't be fully calculated in advance due to the nature of the product, you must include information on how the price (or that part of it) will be calculated. This information should be enough to allow the consumer to calculate the total price themselves and must be clearly displayed in the same way as the total price for any other product. You must also give information about any extra charges for shipping, delivery or postage (including taxes) that are not included in the total price of the product, but might apply.
• Your identity and the identity of any other person on whose behalf you're acting.
• Your business address and, if different, your service address and any business email address. If you're acting on behalf of another person, you must also provide that person's business address, business email address and service address, ( if different).
• Information about the buyer's right to withdraw or cancel (if they have that right).
• Information about how your current practices for payment, delivery, performance or handling complaints differ from your published practices.
• Any information that you're required – under any other rules – to give to the consumer as part of an invitation to purchase.

The requirement to include all the material information in an ITP depends, however, on:

• the limits of the communication method used;
• any other steps you took to overcome those limitations by providing the information in another way; and
• whether the information is already clear from the context.

For example, the address of a shop that the consumer is in doesn't need to be separately given in the ITP because it's clear from the context.

If the material information is not provided clearly, on time, and in a way the consumer is likely to see, it will be considered missing.

Drip pricing

The requirement to provide the total price of the product in the ITP aims to prevent drip pricing.

Drip pricing is the practice of showing the consumer only the initial headline price of a product and then, once they buy or proceed with the transaction, introducing further charges that they can't avoid.

Mandatory costs could include things such as administration fees, delivery charges (where there is no alternative option), mandatory local taxes, joining fees on top of regular subscriptions or membership fees, and so on.

Consequences of breaches

Before the DMCCA came into force, only a court could decide whether a commercial practice was unfair. Now, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can do so itself and, if so, take action against you directly.

It can impose a fine of up to 10% of your global turnover or £300,000, whichever is higher.

Therefore, non-compliance can have serious consequences for your business.

The following unfair commercial practices are also criminal offences under the DMCCA:

• Misleading actions
• Misleading omissions
• Aggressive practices
• Failing to meet professional standards
• Omitting material information from an invitation to purchase
• Engaging in any of the unfair practices listed in Schedule 20 to the DMCCA, except for those in paragraph 12 (disguising paid-for promotions as editorial content), paragraph 13 (fake consumer reviews or reviews that do not reveal that they have been 'paid for'), and paragraph 30 (making a direct appeal to children).

The CMA has published guidance to help businesses comply.