On July 17, 2025, the European Commission launched a “call for evidence” and public consultation on the Digital Fairness Act (“DFA”), an anticipated new consumer protection law. The Commission seeks feedback on existing EU consumer protection laws and on proposals for how the DFA could address the following two problems with the existing laws, as identified through a “Fitness Check” of EU consumer law published in October 2024:
- Lack of digital fairness for consumers. This particularly affects vulnerable groups such as minors, offering them suboptimal choices that can lead to financial harm, loss of time, negative health impacts, and indirect effects like environmental costs.
- Unclear rules for businesses and market fragmentation. This results in increased business costs, hampers cross-border trade, leads to missed opportunities, and causes unfair competition, particularly from non-EU traders.
The Commission has also emphasized its objective to enhance the EU’s competitiveness, aiming for simplification of consumer protection rules and the removal of barriers within the EU Market. This includes efforts to achieve greater legal certainty regarding unfair commercial practices. The goal is to address enforcement deficiencies, regulatory gaps, and market fragmentation, as some Member States have regulated or are considering new regulation in these areas.
Scope
The call for evidence seeks open-ended feedback on addressing “problematic practices” identified in the Fitness Check, while the public consultation involves a detailed questionnaire with nine sections. The public consultation:
- explores EU action options such as non-regulatory measures, increased enforcement, or new rules for issues like dark patterns, addictive design, unfair influencer marketing, deceptive pricing, and digital contract complexities;
- asks for feedback on simplification measures like adjusting withdrawal rights for digital media subscriptions, reducing information requirements for repetitive transactions, and harmonizing national rules on price reductions for perishables;
- questions whether information to consumers should be solely digital and discusses reducing single market fragmentation from varied national laws; and
- invites stakeholders to specify additional actions and consider how consumer protection laws interact with other EU legislation, including the Digital Services Act and AI Act.
The call for evidence and public consultation are open for feedback until October 9, 2025. The European Commission is expected to publish a draft of the DFA in the third quarter of 2026, after which it will require formal adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. This is the most opportune moment to shape the text of the DFA.
Bear in mind, there is also a broader call for evidence and public consultation happening in parallel on the EU’s strategy for consumer policy for the next five years (2025-2030), open until August 31.
Background
The basis for the DFA consultation is the comprehensive evaluation the European Commission undertook between 2022 and 2024 on three core pieces of EU consumer protection legislation: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29/EC (“UCPD”); the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU (“CRD”); and the Unfair Contract Terms Directive 93/13/EEC (“UCTD”). This evaluation (so-called “Fitness Check”) culminated in a 218-page document published on October 3, 2024–see our blog post about it. Among its findings, Annex VI highlighted several “problematic practices” that the DFA aims to address, including: (i) dark patterns and addictive design; (ii) influencer marketing; (iii) algorithmic promotions and pricing; (iv) digital subscriptions; (v) dropshipping; and (vi) AI chatbots.
The Fitness Check highlighted the need for simplification in areas such as information obligations for traders, particularly social media influencers, and the complexities in ensuring a 14-day withdrawal right for digital subscriptions. Concerns were raised regarding privacy and safety for influencers, while streaming services faced challenges with financial losses due to early contract cancellations. Issues were also noted in distinguishing contracts for in-app currencies and virtual items. Suggestions included simplifying contract terms presentation and clarifying rules around price reductions, with ongoing difficulties in implementation despite existing guidelines.
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Covington & Burling regularly advises companies on all aspects of EU consumer protection law, as well as intersections with privacy, cybersecurity, and product safety laws. We are happy to assist you with participating in public consultations and more generally with any inquiries related to compliance with EU consumer protection law.