How the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 Affects Your Business

If you sell goods or services to consumers—online or offline—the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) is likely to affect how you operate. The Act applies to businesses of all sizes and is aimed at tackling unfair sales practices, improving transparency for consumers, and strengthening regulators’ enforcement powers.

“The good news is that the DMCCA is not a complete overhaul of existing consumer law, so most businesses should not need to make drastic changes,” explains Matthew Cowan, Partner in the Commercial Law team at Bracher Rawlins LLP. “However, there are important changes that could impact specific business models. Some practices are now banned outright, and penalties for non‑compliance have increased significantly. A targeted audit of your consumer-facing practices is strongly advisable.”

Below is a practical overview of what the DMCCA changes and where businesses should focus their attention.

How the DMCCA Fits with Existing Consumer Laws

Before the DMCCA, businesses primarily relied on three key pieces of consumer legislation:

• Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013
• Consumer Rights Act 2015
• Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR)

The DMCCA updates and replaces elements of the CPUTR, clarifying grey areas and giving regulators—particularly the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)—greater powers to enforce breaches quickly and directly.

Practices Now Explicitly Banned

The DMCCA tightens the list of “blacklisted” unfair practices, closing off loopholes and removing ambiguity. Three areas in particular deserve attention: drip pricing, fake or misleading reviews, and subscription contracts.

Drip pricing

Drip pricing occurs when an initially advertised price is increased later through unavoidable fees or charges added before purchase. Common examples include compulsory booking fees, administrative charges, or essential add-ons without which a product or service cannot function.

Under the DMCCA, if a consumer must pay a charge, it must be included in the headline price. Optional extras are still permitted, but only where they are genuinely optional and not essential to the purchase. Businesses should review websites, marketing materials, and checkout systems to ensure pricing is clear, complete, and transparent from the outset.

Fake or misleading reviews

The DMCCA explicitly bans fake and misleading consumer reviews. Businesses must not:

• Write reviews themselves or ask employees, friends, or family to do so;
• Pay for positive reviews or incentivised endorsements without transparency; or
• Display reviews without taking reasonable steps to ensure they are genuine.

While the law does not expect perfection, it does require a structured and documented approach to monitoring reviews—such as checking them against verified purchases, flagging suspicious activity, and being transparent where reviews are incentivised.

Subscription contracts

Although subscription rules existed previously, the DMCCA strengthens consumer protections against being “trapped” in ongoing contracts. Businesses must clearly explain:

• how much a subscription costs and how often payment is taken;
• when subscriptions start, renew, or convert from a free trial; and
• how consumers can cancel easily.

Practices that hinder cancellation—such as excessive questions, pressure tactics, or repeated incentives at the point of exit—may now be viewed as non‑compliant and should be carefully reviewed.

Enforcement and Penalties

One of the most significant changes introduced by the DMCCA is enhanced enforcement. The CMA can now impose fines directly, without lengthy court proceedings. Penalties can reach:

• up to £300,000 or 10% of a company’s global annual turnover for substantive breaches; and
• up to 5% of global turnover for procedural failures.

Given the scale of potential fines, the DMCCA should not be ignored.

How We Can Help

The CMA has allowed businesses time to review and update their practices, but many are still catching up. Our commercial team can help you identify how the DMCCA affects your business, carry out a focused compliance audit, and implement practical changes where needed.

Maintaining consumer trust is critical in a competitive market. Staying compliant with evolving consumer protection laws is an essential part of protecting both your reputation and your commercial success.

For further information, please contact Matthew Cowan in the Corporate and Commercial team on +44 (0)20 7404 9400 or email matthew.cowan@bracherrawlins.co.uk.

Bracher Rawlins LLP is based in London.