Eight enforcement cases and a hundred warnings: The CMA's new consumer enforcement era begins

On 18 November 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it had opened its first formal consumer protection investigations using its new powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA).  

In an extraordinary move, the CMA launched eight new enforcement cases on the same day that it announced it was issuing 100 advisory letters to businesses that it believes do not comply with new price transparency rules under the DMCCA.  

The CMA has also published its long-awaited final transparency guidance following a consultation that ran over the summer, together with its responses to industry pushback on the proposals. The final guidance includes some additional clarification in places, but as expected the CMA has made very few substantive changes to the draft guidance despite widespread concerns from businesses across multiple sectors.

Price transparency

Since April 2025, the CMA has been conducting a major cross-economy review of more than 400 businesses in 19 different sectors to assess compliance with the rules on price transparency, which were strengthened in the DMCCA. Although the tougher rules were introduced by the government to crack down on ‘drip’ pricing, the statutory mechanism used by the government to update existing rules has resulted in a hardline, proactive obligation to include the total price in every invitation to purchase, subject to some limited exceptions. There is very limited flexibility in the law to accommodate for established (and often uncontroversial) trading practices in different sectors.

The final price transparency guidance issued by the CMA confirms its strict interpretation of the DMCCA.

The CMA has confirmed it will send advisory letters to 100 businesses that it believes do not comply with the DMCCA price transparency rules The letters target sectors where the CMA identified potential concerns, including holidays (including package travel), driving schools, homeware retailers, rail travel, parking and airport parking, bus and coach travel, luggage storage providers, cinemas, live event tickets, food and drink delivery companies, letter and parcel delivery, gyms and fitness, fashion, and online vouchers.

According to the CMA, the sectors targeted collectively serve tens of millions of UK consumers every year. A report by the Department for Business and Trade, cited by the CMA, suggests that drip pricing is particularly prevalent for event tickets (93% of businesses reviewed), cinema tickets (69%), and gym memberships (60%).

New consumer enforcement cases

As expected for case opening announcements, the CMA has not published a detailed breakdown of the issues it is investigating, but here is what is currently known:

• StubHub: The secondary ticketing platform is under review regarding mandatory additional charges applied when consumers buy tickets and whether these fees are included upfront.
• Viagogo: The CMA is examining whether the secondary ticketing site includes mandatory booking fees in the initial price shown to consumers.
• AA Driving School: The investigation focuses on how mandatory fees are presented and whether they appear in the total price consumers see at the beginning of the purchase process.
• BSM Driving School: The CMA is reviewing the presentation of compulsory charges and their inclusion in the headline price displayed to customers at the outset.
• Gold's Gym: The investigation concerns the presentation of a one-off joining fee for annual membership, specifically whether introducing it partway through sign-up and excluding it from advertised membership costs breaks the law.
• Wayfair: The CMA is examining whether time-limited sales ended when the retailer stated they would.
• Appliances Direct: The investigation covers two issues: whether time-limited promotions concluded as advertised, and whether customers are automatically opted in to purchasing additional services.
• Marks Electrical: The CMA is reviewing whether the retailer automatically opts customers in to purchasing additional services.

The announced investigations reveal three primary areas of concern:

• Drip pricing: Several cases focus on whether mandatory additional charges are included upfront in the total price consumers see at the beginning of the purchase process, particularly affecting secondary ticketing sites and driving schools.
• Misleading time-limited offers: The CMA is investigating whether time-limited sales ended when businesses said they would, with homeware retailers Wayfair and Appliances Direct under scrutiny.
• Default opt-ins: The practice of automatically opting consumers in for optional charges is being examined, particularly in relation to homeware retailers Marks Electrical and Appliances Direct.

What comes next?

It remains to be seen whether all eight enforcement cases will proceed to Final Infringement Notices, but it is widely expected the CMA will use this opportunity to exercise its new enforcement powers under Part 3 of the DMCCA to impose significant penalties. As any penalties will be linked to the businesses’ annual turnover, it’s very likely we will see the CMA impose its first multi-million pound penalties for breaches of UK consumer law.

The businesses involved may also have the opportunity to enter into settlement agreements with the CMA and receive a discount in the proposed penalty. Under the old (pre-DMCCA) regime the CMA would have generally sought to agree undertakings with the firms under investigation – as with recent consumer enforcement cases involving Ticketmaster, Google and Amazon – to stop the alleged unlawful conduct, but it is likely to be much more challenging for those under investigation to secure that outcome now the CMA has a much wider arsenal of enforcement powers at its disposal.

If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised above, or if you require advice on compliance with the new CMA guidance, enforcement activity, or commercial practices under the DMCCA please get in touch with one of our experts.

This publication is intended for general guidance and represents our understanding of the relevant law and practice as at November 2025. Specific advice should be sought for specific cases. For more information see our terms & conditions.

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