(fra Kommisjonens pressemelding 11.11.2026)

Commission strengthens consumer protection laws, making them fit for the digital age

Today, the European Commission presented its Proposal for a Digital Fairness Act (DFA) - a major update of the EU consumer protection rules to ensure that consumers in the EU enjoy the same high level of protection online as they do offline.

Alongside it, the Commission proposed a revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation (CPC Regulation), granting the Commission stronger powers to directly investigate and issue fines in large-scale cases that have a significant impact on consumers across the Single Market.

Together, these initiatives will build on the existing digital rulebook to strengthen consumer protection, contribute to fairer online markets and create a level-playing field – allowing companies to compete, grow and innovate with confidence.  

The rapid growth of e-commerce and digital markets have transformed the way we shop, making it easier than ever for consumers to access goods and services. But this convenience must not come at the expense of fairness. Unfair commercial practices online, such as manipulative marketing tactics or hidden fees, undermine consumers' ability to make free and informed choices. Today's proposals will equip the EU with stronger tools to tackle these unfair practices, strengthen enforcement across the Single Market and simplify the rules businesses must follow, increasing compliance.  The result will be better protection for consumers and fairer competition for businesses, which all in all are expecting to save EU consumers up to €13.7 billion a year.

New protections online for consumers

The Digital Fairness Act proposal allows EU authorities to tackle unfair practices in digital markets more effectively, ensuring that all traders play by the same rules. The DFA will protect consumers of all ages shopping and browsing for goods or services online.

Key novelties of the proposal include:

• A ban on manipulative marketing tactics (so-called “dark patterns”) such as fake claims that a product is almost sold out that pressure consumers into purchasing decisions they might not otherwise make.
• Clear and transparent pricing, particularly prices of purchases made with virtual in-app currencies and when dynamic pricing is used for cultural and sports events. In virtual queues, companies will have to show the current price in real time and the highest possible price.
• Fairness by design, with the option for consumers to turn off addictive design features that encourage excessive or compulsive spending, such as persistent prompts. The proposal will also restrict unfair practices that encourage overspending, for example by banning gambling-like features for minors, such as pay-to-win and pay-to-progress.
• Clear disclosure of influencer marketing, requiring influencers to be transparent about commercial content and preventing the exploitation of the trust of minors in their audience.
• A restriction on unfair personalised ads and prices that target minors or take advantage of sensitive data.
• Digital contracts and subscriptions that are easier to cancel and an end to unwanted automatic renewals and free trials turning into subscription traps. Consumers will have the right to communicate with a human in customer service and will have clear rights when using an AI agent to buy products on their behalf.

The Digital Fairness Act proposal also contains simplification measures and today's proposals include a simplification directive with targeted amendments to the Consumer Rights Directive to simplify its application online. This includes simpler pre-contractual information requirements for repeat in-app purchases and clearer rules on how consumers can cancel digital media subscriptions within the withdrawal period.

Direct EU enforcement powers and improved national coordination

In today's day and age, digital markets evolve rapidly. So do unfair practices, which are proliferating online and know no borders. To keep our consumers safe and ensure businesses can compete fairly, we need to equip ourselves with the right tools to respond rapidly and effectively to breaches of consumer law. A centralised enforcement of EU consumer rules will help deal swiftly with high-impact cases, increasing the deterrence of EU rules, shielding honest businesses from unfair competition, and protecting consumers from harm. This why the revision of the CPC Regulation proposes to:

• Give the Commission direct powers to investigate large-scale cases with a major impact on consumers across the Single Market, with fines of up to 6% of a company's worldwide annual turnover.
• Speed up and improve coordination of national consumer authorities in cross-border cases, setting timelines for key steps and improving how penalties are coordinated, for example when fines are collected in different jurisdictions. 
• Strengthen enforcement against non-EU companies, by requiring them to appoint a legal representative in the EU to cooperate with national authorities and the Commission.

Next steps

The proposals will now be discussed by the European Parliament and Council.

Background

The Commission announced both the revision of the CPC Regulation and the Digital Fairness Act in the Commission's 2030 Consumer Agenda. The DFA was also included in the 2026 Commission Work Programme and the revision of consumer enforcement rules is included in the "One Europe, One Market" roadmap. These measures answer calls for stronger enforcement and protection against unfair digital practices.

The Proposal for a Digital Fairness Act builds on the findings of the Commission's 2024 Digital Fairness Fitness Check. The CPC Regulation established the CPC Network, which brings together national consumer protection authorities to investigate and address cross-border infringements of EU consumer law. The Commission currently cannot directly enforce these rules, but facilitates CPC enforcement actions in cases of widespread breaches with an EU dimension. Since the Regulation started applying in 2020, the Network has carried out more than 30 coordinated enforcement actions. The proposed CPC revision is based on the findings of the 2024 application report, which identified several shortcomings in the current enforcement system.

For more information

Questions and Answers

Factsheet

Digital Fairness Act website

Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation website

Digital Fairness Act (DFA) Regulation

DFA – Proposal amending the Consumer Rights Directive

Revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation