Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (‘the Act’) received royal assent on 24^th May 2024 and makes a series of important changes to existing consumer law. As part of these changes, traders may be fined up to 10% of the total value of their turnover either by the courts or directly by the Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’). Given that these powers will be in force from early 2025 it is essential that both law firms and their clients are aware of the key provisions.

This session sets out a succinct summary of the key consumer law related provisions of the Act with particular emphasis on the following topics:

Unfair commercial practices

• Repeal of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
• Changes to the definition of ‘unfair commercial practice’
• Amendments to the schedule of commercial practices which are always considered to be unfair to include new rules about fake reviews

Enforcement provisions

• Definition of ‘relevant infringements’
• Changes to the powers of the court
• Introduction of direct enforcement powers for the CMA
• Provisional and final infringement notices
• Introduction of monetary penalties – fixed amount v daily rate
• Appeals procedure
• CMA Draft Guidance on enforcement of monetary penalties