Unfair practices, real consequences: The new consumer enforcement regime in practice.

The Direct Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) is the most significant change to consumer protection since the Consumer Rights Act in 2015 and applies to all unfair commercial practices occurring on or after the 6 April 2025.

Background to the DMCCA

The changes imposed by the DMCCA were highlighted in a previous article written by Saima Shabir. It is safe to say that the changes were not surprising, certain practices, such as submitting fake reviews, aggressive sales tactics and drip pricing, were made automatically unfair. Much to the delight of consumers, there were also serious improvements to the enforcement powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The CMA now have the power to open investigations into organisations for various breaches of consumer law, make infringement findings without going to a court and impose substantial fines. These powers, represent a clear shift from judicial oversight to regulatory based decision making, taking pressure off the overloaded court system whilst ensuring that consumers are adequately protected.

Early enforcement action

The DMCCA has made certain that breaching consumer legislation could land a business in serious hot water. In November 2025, the CMA announced various enforcement actions undertaken under the new legislation, issuing 8 formal consumer protection investigations and issuing around 100 warning letters to businesses on price transparency and drip pricing issues. Launching multiple investigations demonstrates the CMA intend to use their newfound powers as much as possible to deter future unfair practices.

The CMA have also exercised their significant fining powers, marking their intention utilise all aspects of the new enforcement regime. On the 13 February 2026, Euro Car Parks (ECP) were fined £473,000 by the CMA for failing to respond to an information notice which was issued under the DMCCA.

So why were ECP fined? Well, the answer is simple, ECP did not engage with the CMA despite several attempts to contact with them over a 3-month period and did not have a reasonable excuse for doing so. ECP attempted to justify their non-responsiveness indicating that:

• the service of the information notice was inadequate as the service of a hard copy notice on a director who was out of the country was unfair; and
• the CMA email correspondence was potentially fraudulent and was merely an attempt to scam the company.

These arguments were rejected by the CMA as ‘unreasonable’, the correspondence was from official government email addresses and had no fraudulent characteristics. A final enforcement notice was serviced to ECP in December 2025, which the ECP applied for an injunction to prevent being named as the recipient of the fine. This attempted injunction was later rejected. You can read the enforcement notice here.

The decision to fine ECP came before any formal investigation was launched and was based solely on ECP’s non-compliance with CMA’s request for information. This indicates the CMA will take serious action against organisations if they are unable to ascertain information required to assess whether investigations are necessary.

Although there has been early enforcement action taken by the CMA, there is a notable absence of case law interpreting the proportionality of fines and what real world practices are considered ‘unfair’ under the DMCCA regime.

Practical lessons for businesses

Consumer protection should always be one of a business’ main priorities. If an organisation cuts corners or does not comply with CMA requests, they could find themselves with a hefty fine which could seriously affect how the organisation is run. To safeguard against these risks, businesses should:

• read through and implement CMA207 guidance to ensure they are not unknowingly engaging in unfair commercial practices;
• ensure that all CMA correspondence is verified and responded to without delay;
• keep up to date with future changes to consumer protection laws as the DMCCA as new subscription contract rules and other amendments come into force.

If your business has received a request for information, or you want advice on consumer protection legislation, the Geldards Commercial team will be happy to assist you.