The EU has unveiled proposed legislation aimed at protecting consumers from unfair commercial practices and improving transparency in digital markets.
The Digital Fairness Act (DFA) would address practices including hidden fees, misleading prices, manipulative marketing and subscription traps, which affect consumers shopping online, buying event tickets and using digital services.
The European Commission said more than 80% of popular e-commerce websites and mobile apps contained manipulative marketing tactics. Such practices cost EU consumers an estimated €10.3 billion annually, according to the Commission.
The proposed legislation would tackle so-called dark patterns, including fake countdowns and misleading claims that products are almost sold out.
It would also address practices that encourage overspending, including loot boxes in video games for minors.
Other measures would give consumers the option to turn off features, such as endless scrolling and video autoplay, require influencers to disclose advertising clearly and restrict personalised advertising and pricing that target minors or exploit consumer vulnerabilities.
The proposals also seek to improve pricing transparency, particularly for purchases involving virtual in-app currencies and dynamic pricing for cultural and sporting events.
Companies operating virtual queues would have to display the current price in real time, alongside the highest possible price.
The legislation would also make digital contracts and subscriptions easier to cancel, address unwanted automatic renewals and prevent free trials from becoming subscription traps.
Consumers would have the right to communicate with a human customer service representative and clearer rights when using AI agents to purchase products on their behalf.
“The Digital Fairness Act will put consumers back in control. It will tackle manipulative marketing tactics, give people greater control over addictive design features, protect children from harmful commercial practices and crack down on hidden advertising and misleading influencer marketing,” said Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection.
He added: “It will also bring greater transparency to pricing, including dynamic pricing for cultural and sporting events, and make it easier for consumers to cancel unwanted subscriptions. The principle is simple: the digital economy must work for consumers, not against them.”
Alongside the Digital Fairness Act, McGrath presented a proposed revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation, which governs how national consumer protection authorities, including Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), work together to tackle businesses breaching EU consumer protection rules.
The revised regulation would give the European Commission direct powers to investigate and issue fines in large-scale cases affecting consumers across the Single Market for the first time.
Companies could face fines of up to 6% of their worldwide annual turnover.
The proposals would also strengthen enforcement against companies based outside the EU, including requiring them to appoint a legal representative within the bloc to cooperate with national authorities and the European Commission.
Patryk Goron
Ltd
