The Competition and Markets Authority is consulting on draft direct consumer enforcement guidance and rules as required and permitted under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act).
The DMCC Act grants new direct enforcement powers, relating to consumer protection law, to the CMA. These new powers enable the CMA to investigate, determine and take enforcement action to address:
- infringements of certain consumer protection laws;
- breaches of undertakings given to the CMA;
- breaches of CMA direct enforcement directions;
- providing false or misleading information in connection with the CMA’s exercise of a direct enforcement function; and
- non-compliance with statutory information notices
Chapter 7 of the draft guidance sets out the CMA’s statements of policy in relation to the exercise of its powers to impose penalties under section 199 of the DMCC Act and paragraph 16F of Schedule 5 to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (as amended by the DMCC Act). These statements of policy, including any future revisions, are subject to Secretary of State approval following a consultation process. The CMA must have regard to the statement of policy most recently published at the time of the act or omission giving rise to the penalty.
The CMA has also produced draft procedural rules on the CMA’s use of its direct enforcement powers as permitted under section 210 of the DMCC Act. The draft rules, which are to be legally binding in all cases when the CMA exercises its direct consumer enforcement functions, are subject to approval by the Secretary of State through secondary legislation, following a consultation process.
The consultation ends on 11 September 2024.
