July 25, 2025
In April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act (DMCCA) came into force, significantly expanding the UK Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA’s) enforcement powers and increasing the risk of regulatory scrutiny for businesses. The CMA has published a series of guidance documents to help companies understand how the DMCCA will be enforced and their new compliance requirements.
As we’ve noted in previous blogs, the DMCCA introduces a new administrative enforcement model that gives the CMA authority to investigate suspected infringements of consumer law and issue associated notices to businesses it determines are in violation. In addition, the agency can impose fines of up to 10% of a business’s annual global turnover for not complying with relevant laws. Previously, the agency relied on the courts to set financial penalties and could not directly impose fines.
In March, the CMA published its final guidance that sets out how it will use its enhanced direct consumer enforcement authority granted by the new regulation. The agency also released a brief guide for businesses and lawyers to define which activities it feels are unfair to consumers, such as misleading commercial claims, fake reviews, and pressure selling. The publication complements the CMA’s final guidance and provides insights into the agency’s priorities.
Details of the final guidance on direct consumer enforcement authority
Generally, the CMA’s March guidance on its expanded enforcement authority aligns with the earlier version it issued in July 2024. The final version retains the four stages of the direct consumer enforcement process: pre-launch, investigation, final decision, and post-decision.
After conducting a formal investigation, the CMA may issue a Provisional Infringement Notice (PIN) if it believes a company violated consumer law. The company will have the opportunity to respond via written and oral representations. In the draft guidance, companies were given 20 to 30 working days to respond. During the consultation process, stakeholders raised concerns with this limited timeframe. In the final guidance, the timeframe was extended to 20 to 40 working days, and potentially longer in appropriate circumstances.
The draft guidance also only allowed the companies under investigation and their legal advisers to attend oral hearings. Stakeholders raised concerns about this provision during the consultation process as well. As a result, the final guidance allows other advisers, such as expert witnesses, to attend oral hearings.
In addition, the final guidance has several more scenarios to help further illustrate key processes, such as the calculation of monetary penalties. It offers examples for how penalties are calculated across four categories and classifications ranging from “High A” to “Low D,” depending on the potential harm and level of culpability.
Looking ahead
The CMA has consistently communicated that it intends to aggressively apply its expanded enforcement process. That position did not change as the DMCCA entered into force.
In its 2025 Strategic Steer, the UK Government directed the CMA to “use its range of tools, including its forthcoming direct consumer enforcement powers under the DMCCA, to, where appropriate, grow the economy through promoting consumer trust and confidence, while deterring poor corporate practices.”
With both the Government and the CMA aligned on the agency’s use of its direct consumer enforcement powers, businesses should be prepared for stricter scrutiny of their practices and more aggressive enforcement. They should assess their potential risk in light of the regulators’ position and take steps to mitigate any danger to their operations.
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