The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced a major consumer protection and enforcement drive focused on online pricing and sales practices – the first of its kind using the CMA’s heightened powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA).

The CMA has opened investigations – the first of their kind under the DMCCA – into eight businesses, across various sectors, for suspected breaches of consumer law relating to their:

• use of fees
• use of misleading time-limited offers
• practice of automatically opting consumers in for optional charges

At this stage, the CMA has reached no conclusions about whether the law has been broken in any of these investigations.

Details of each investigation can be found on the CMA’s page here.

Based on the results of its compliance sweeps, the CMA is sending advisory letters to 100 businesses across 14 sectors (including holidays, transport, homeware, parcel delivery, gyms, fashion, food delivery, cinemas, live events) outlining concerns about their use of additional fees and online sales tactics.

The letters are designed to put the recipients on notice – these businesses will be required to review their practices and ensure they’re in line with consumer protection law, and the CMA’s guidance on pricing transparency and unfair commercial practices, to avoid the risk of further enforcement action.

In its statement, the CMA notes that “drip pricing [is] particularly prevalent regarding event tickets (93% of businesses reviewed), cinema tickets (69%), and gym memberships (60%) – all areas where the CMA has taken action today”.

The CMA points out that, while the DMCCA has updated the law on pricing information, certain aspects of drip pricing have long been prohibited under existing consumer legislation. Practices such as failing to include mandatory charges upfront, introducing unavoidable fees at checkout, and presenting misleading headline prices that exclude compulsory costs have been unlawful for years, which is why the CMA’s early enforcement action and advisory letters focus on possible breaches related to these (rather than newer) issues.

Other aspects of the law have only recently been updated (i.e., under the DMCCA), and on these new aspects the CMA has today published its finalised Price Transparency Guidance, following consultation with businesses. It has also published updated Unfair Commercial Practices Guidance.

• The CMA will use its powers early and assertively: The DMCCA enables the CMA to determine consumer law breaches without going to court, order compensation to affected consumers, and fine companies up to 10% of global turnover (to name but a few of its new powers). And today’s message from the CMA is clear — non‑compliance will be prioritised for enforcement.
• CMA guidance is the benchmark: Businesses should closely review, and ensure they align with, the CMA’s finalised Price Pransparency Guidance and its updated Unfair Commercial Practices Guidance to mitigate enforcement risk.
• Broad, economy‑wide expectations: Businesses across all consumer‑facing sectors should review (and continue to keep under review) their pricing and commercial practices and end-to-end customer journeys to ensure full compliance with the law.
• Update governance and training: Businesses should embed internal controls and training to ensure that marketing, product, and e‑commerce teams understand and apply the CMA’s guidance consistently.
• Document compliance decisions: Keeping records showing how pricing claims are set, tested, and monitored is good practice and will help should the CMA request information or launch action.

If you would like to discuss any of the above issues with our experienced consumer team, please contact Claire Livingstone.

More information about the DMCCA can be found on our tracker page here.