European Commission Publishes Long-awaited Digital Fairness Act

The digital economy has transformed almost every aspect of how businesses engage with consumers. However, much of the EU's core consumer protection framework was developed in an era before social media influencers, behavioural advertising, app ecosystems, AI-driven recommendation engines and subscription-based digital services became central to everyday commerce. With the publication of its proposed Digital Fairness Act (DFA), the European Commission has signalled its intention to modernise EU consumer law.

Digital Fairness Act: a new chapter for EU consumer protection

The proposed DFA follows the Commission's Digital Fairness Fitness Check, which concluded that the EU's core consumer law framework remains broadly effective but increasingly struggles to address certain practices that have become commonplace in digital markets. The DFA is intended to serve a dual purpose: strengthening consumer protection while creating a more harmonised and predictable regulatory framework across