The CMA’s New Fining Power: What the UK’s DMCC Act Means for Fashion Brands

For most of its history, the UK’s consumer regulator could not fine a business for a consumer law breach without first going to court. That changed on 6 April 2025, when the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force and gave the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) direct enforcement powers. Fashion brands that sell online to UK shoppers now face a regulator that imposes penalties on its own authority. The first of those penalties arrived in April 2026.

What Changed in April 2025

The DMCC Act gives the CMA the power to investigate and penalise a business that breaches consumer protection law. The CMA’s one-year review reports that in the first year of the regime it opened investigations into 14 businesses, settled with two, issued 157 advisory and warning letters and sent 46 information notices. The regulator ordered £760,000 in refunds to consumers and imposed fines totalling £4.7 million.

The Act also prohibits certain practices outright, including drip pricing, pressure selling and fake reviews. According to Pinsent Masons, these practices were investigated under older rules as misleading actions or omissions, but the new Act names them as unfair commercial practices in their own right. Businesses found in breach may be fined up to 10 percent of their worldwide annual turnover, as TLT explains.

The First Fine: A Booking Fee Hidden Until Checkout

The CMA’s first substantive penalty came in April 2026. It concerned the AA Driving School and BSM Driving School, both owned by the Automobile Association Developments Limited. The CMA found that the AA failed to include a mandatory £3 booking fee in the initial price displayed for driving lessons. Shoppers saw one price at the start of the booking journey, and a further charge appeared later.

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The regulator fined the AA £4.2 million and ordered it to refund more than £760,000 to affected customers, reaching over 80,000 learner drivers. The initial fine stood at £7 million, but a 40 percent reduction applied because the businesses admitted liability and settled early. The total financial impact on the AA, once the fine and refunds are combined, comes to close to £5 million.

The case also shows how the CMA calculates a penalty. Ashurst reports that the regulator started from 15 percent of the AA’s UK turnover relating to the affected sales, and it then adjusted that figure for the seriousness of the breach. A brand that sells in the UK should expect the regulator to measure penalties against its UK sales.

DMCC Act: Why Fashion Brands Should Pay Attention

Drip pricing is common in fashion. Shipping fees and handling charges often surface only at the final step of checkout, after a shopper has committed to a basket. The CMA’s campaign covers any business selling to UK consumers online, whatever the product. The AA case involved driving lessons, but the legal test does not depend on the sector.

The CMA has also signalled that more cases are coming. The regulator has launched further drip pricing investigations under the same regime, and the UK government has estimated that nearly half of online businesses use hidden or dripped fees. Brands that show a shopper one price at the start and a different price at the end are the ones most likely to attract attention.

Fake reviews fall within the same powers. The rules that govern review content, and the penalties for manipulating it, sit beside the drip pricing provisions, so a brand that tidies up its checkout while leaving its review pages unchecked has only solved half of the compliance problem. FLJ’s 2026 legal calendar sets out the UK rules alongside the other deadlines that fashion lawyers track this year.

What Brands Should Do Now

Start with the checkout journey. Every mandatory charge should appear in the first price a shopper sees, before the basket page and before any account creation. Brands should test their own checkout as a customer would, and record each step at which a new charge appears. Shipping and handling fees that apply to every order belong in the headline price, while optional extras can appear separately.

Review the records behind your pricing decisions as well. The regulator will ask how a charge was introduced, when it was first displayed and whether it could have been shown earlier. Keep dated screenshots of the checkout flow and the internal approvals behind it. Brands should also check their review systems against the Act, because the same regulator enforces both.

Brands that have treated UK compliance as a small addendum to their EU or US policies should revisit that view. The CMA now has direct fining power, a clear track record and a published method for calculating penalties. A UK sales strategy that depends on hidden fees has become a financial risk with a fixed price tag attached.

This article gives general information about the UK’s direct consumer enforcement regime under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and should not be taken as legal advice. Penalties, refund orders and enforcement priorities depend on the facts of each case and may change as the CMA publishes new guidance. For advice on your own pricing, checkout and review practices, consult a qualified lawyer.