Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill

On the 25 April 2023, the UK Government introduced the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (‘the Bill’).  The Bill makes a series of important changes but the most important is the introduction of fining powers for the Competition and Markets Authority (‘CMA’) of up to 10% of the total value of the Trader’s turnover.

Topics for discussion will include:

Unfair commercial practices

• Repeal of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
• Changes to the definition of ‘unfair commercial practice’
• Proposed amendments to the schedule of commercial practices which are always considered to be unfair

Subscription Contracts

• Definition of ‘subscription contracts’
• Pre-contract information to be provided
• Provision of reminder notices
• Cooling off rights

Enforcement provisions

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