The Digital Fairness Act

The legal framework

On 11 November 2026 the European Commission presented its proposal for a Digital Fairness Act, announced in the press release "Commission strengthens consumer protection laws, making them fit for the digital age". The proposal is officially a Regulation on promoting fair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the offline and digital single market, and repealing Directive 2005/29/EC, reference COM(2026) 1100 final, procedure 2026/0356 (COD). It is a proposal. Nothing in it binds anyone yet. The Commission's Digital Fairness Act page collects the annexes, the impact assessment and a factsheet.

Why the Commission proposes it

The Commission's 2024 fitness check of EU consumer law found that the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) and the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) still work, but were written before the attention economy, influencer marketing, personalisation and subscription models. Consumer detriment stayed high and national readings diverged. The proposal does two things. It turns the UCPD into a directly applicable regulation, carrying over the general clause, misleading and aggressive practices and the blacklist, and it adds new rules in a chapter called "Digital fairness" (Articles 10 to 29).

Who it applies to

Every trader in business-to-consumer commercial practices, before, during and after a transaction (Article 2). That covers brands, webshops, apps, game publishers, subscription services, marketplaces and influencers. Rules specific to platforms under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the GDPR, the AI Act, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the planned EU KIDS Act prevail where they regulate the same aspect (Article 4).

The main new rules

• Dark patterns (Article 10). No interface designed to deceive or manipulate. Part III of Annex I blacklists ten designs, including fake scarcity, preselected paid add-ons, confirm-shaming, nagging, double negatives, hiding price or renewal terms and making refusal harder than acceptance. The Commission can extend the list.
• Influencer marketing (Article 11). Each paid post must say "advertisement" or "commercial collaboration". Brands and agencies must make sure, by contract, that influencers comply. See influencers and the law.
• Personalisation (Articles 12 and 13). No ads targeted through profiling at consumers known to be minors, or based on sensitive data. No personalised prices that are likely to harm minors or vulnerable consumers.
• Spending and addictive design (Articles 14 to 17). Show the euro value behind virtual currencies, disclose loot box odds and let users switch them off, no loot boxes or pay-to-win for minors, and a switch to turn off autoplay, unprompted notifications, streaks and prompts that simulate a personal relationship.
• Pricing (Articles 18 and 19, Annex I). Dynamic ticket prices must show availability and the maximum price; virtual queues must show the live price. The blacklist adds drip pricing and misleading reference prices.
• Digital contracts (Articles 20 to 27). A reminder and express consent before a free trial turns paid, renewal reminders, termination at any time with at most one month's notice once a contract has rolled over for an indefinite period, a "terminate the contract here" button, a "withdraw from contract here" button, access to a human in customer service and user controls for AI agents that contract on a consumer's behalf.
• Enforcement (Articles 30 to 36). Courts and authorities can order a trader to disclose how an online practice was designed, how it works and how it affects consumer behaviour. National fines reach at least 4% of turnover in coordinated cases, and the Commission could fine up to 6% of worldwide turnover in widespread EU-level cases. A trader held liable gets a right of recourse against the business partner who caused the breach.

The Simplification Directive

On the same day the Commission proposed a directive simplifying certain consumer protection rules, which trims information duties in the CRD and moves some of its rules into the Digital Fairness Act. We cover it in the Consumer Law Simplification Directive.

Timeline

The European Parliament and the Council now each form a position under the ordinary legislative procedure, then negotiate a final text. The regulation would enter into force 20 days after publication and apply 12 months later (Article 40), when the UCPD is repealed (Article 38). A revision of the enforcement cooperation regulation, which would give the Commission its own fining powers, follows the same track. Expect amendments on the way.

Frequently asked questions

Does this apply today?

No. Today the UCPD and national law apply, in Belgium through Book VI of the Code of Economic Law. Many blacklisted practices are already risky today.

We are a B2B business. Does it matter?

Only where you deal with consumers or build their interfaces. The right of recourse in Article 36 means your clients may pass liability on to you, so expect contract questions.

Will the text change?

Very likely.

What can we do now?

Audit your checkout, sign-up and cancellation flows against Annex I Part III. Map your subscription and trial logic. Check influencer and agency contracts. Note where you profile users who may be minors.

How this connects

The rules sit next to cookie consent and the website technology audit. We review consumer terms, agency and influencer contracts as part of commercial contracts and transactions, and personalisation questions with our DPO as a service. Contract Review checks your terms clause by clause and Document Studio prepares the updated texts; our own AI does the first pass and an attorney reviews every result.