Avoid unfair trading practices

UK law prohibits unfair commercial practices - business conduct that misleads consumers, pressures them unfairly, or otherwise distorts their purchasing decisions. These rules apply to all businesses selling to consumers.

Since 6 April 2025, the rules formerly in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 have been in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA), and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover or £300,000 (whichever is higher) without going to court.

What counts as an unfair commercial practice?

A commercial practice is unfair if it:

1. breaches professional diligence and materially distorts consumer behaviour
2. is a misleading action, giving false or deceptive information
3. is a misleading omission, hiding material information
4. is aggressive, using harassment, coercion or undue influence
5. is one of 32 banned practices that are always unfair

The key question is whether your practice causes (or is likely to cause) the average consumer to make a different purchasing decision than they would have made otherwise.

Who is the 'average consumer'?

The law uses the test of a reasonably well-informed, reasonably observant and circumspect consumer. This is not a gullible consumer, but someone who pays reasonable attention.

However, if your marketing targets a particular group (such as elderly people or children), the test is the average member of that group. You must also consider vulnerable consumers if their vulnerability is reasonably foreseeable.

Misleading actions

A commercial practice is a misleading action if it contains false information, or deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer even if it is factually correct, and it causes or is likely to cause the consumer to make a different transactional decision.

This covers information about:

• whether the product exists, or what it actually is
• its main characteristics, such as availability, benefits, risks, composition, origin, fitness for purpose, quantity, specification and test results
• the price or how it is calculated, including claims about special offers or discounts
• your qualifications, accreditations, endorsements, awards, affiliations or intellectual property
• consumers' rights, including their statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015
• after-sales assistance, complaint handling and the need for repairs or parts

Examples of misleading actions

• Advertising goods at a price you know you cannot supply
• Claiming 'limited edition' when unlimited quantities are available
• Displaying reviews or testimonials that are fabricated or paid for without disclosure
• Using logos or packaging similar to a well-known brand to create confusion
• Displaying trust marks or accreditations you have not obtained
• Inflating a 'was' price to make a discount appear larger than it is

Even accurate information can be misleading if presented in a deceptive way - for example, using small print to hide important qualifications.

Misleading omissions

A commercial practice is a misleading omission if it leaves out material information the average consumer needs to make an informed decision, hides it or gives it in a way that is unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely, or fails to identify its commercial intent when that is not already apparent.

What is 'material information'?

Material information is what the average consumer needs, in the context, to make an informed purchasing decision. When you make an invitation to purchase (showing a product with its price), you must provide:

• the main characteristics of the product, appropriate to the medium
• your trading name and geographic address
• the total price including taxes or, if it cannot be calculated in advance, how it is calculated
• delivery charges, booking fees and any other costs the consumer will pay
• payment arrangements, if they differ from your normal practice
• cancellation rights, for products that have them (distance and off-premises sales)

Examples of misleading omissions

• Advertising a price, then adding unavoidable fees such as booking fees, mandatory service charges or payment processing fees at checkout ('drip pricing', specifically prohibited under the DMCCA)
• Claiming something is 'free' when a paid subscription is required to access it
• Selling a refurbished phone without disclosing that it is not new
• Publishing advertorial content without making clear it is paid promotion
• Promising after-sales service in English, then only providing it in another language

The law recognises that space or time limitations (such as a short advertisement) may prevent you from including all information. But you must then make the information available through other means - for example, linking to a webpage with full details.

Aggressive commercial practices

A commercial practice is aggressive if it uses harassment, coercion or undue influence to significantly impair the consumer's freedom of choice, causing them to make a different decision. Harassment means persistent unwanted approaches or communications. Coercion includes physical force or threats. Undue influence means exploiting a position of power to pressure the consumer, even without physical force.

Factors the law considers

When assessing whether a practice is aggressive, enforcers look at:

• its timing, location, nature or persistence, such as late-night calls, repeated home visits or high-pressure selling at inappropriate times or places
• threatening or abusive behaviour, such as raising your voice, intimidating body language or making threats
• exploiting misfortune, such as targeting recently bereaved people or exploiting financial desperation or mental health difficulties
• onerous barriers to rights, such as making cancellation extremely difficult or requiring excessive documentation
• threats of action with no legal basis, such as threatening court action or reporting to the authorities without grounds

Examples of aggressive practices

• Posting intimidating staff at exits during sales presentations
• Staying in a consumer's home until they sign a contract
• Making repeated telephone calls after the consumer has said no
• Targeting recently bereaved people with funeral services at inflated prices
• Requiring 50 pages of documentation to cancel a subscription
• Telling a consumer they will be reported to credit agencies for disputing a charge

The 32 banned practices

Schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists 32 commercial practices that are always unfair - regardless of whether they actually affected any individual consumer. No proof of consumer impact is needed.

These are divided into misleading practices (24) and aggressive practices (8). Most are criminal offences.

Misleading practices (always unlawful)

1. Claiming to be a signatory to a code of conduct when you are not
2. Displaying a trust mark, quality mark, or equivalent without authorisation
3. Claiming a code of conduct has an endorsement from a public body when it does not
4. Claiming products or business practices have been approved or endorsed when they have not
5. Advertising at a price without reasonable expectation of being able to supply at that price
6. Advertising at a price then refusing to take orders, or demonstrating a defective sample to promote a different product
7. Falsely claiming products are only available for a limited time to pressure quick decisions
8. Promising after-sales service in one language then only providing it in another
9. Stating or implying a product can legally be sold when it cannot
10. Presenting statutory consumer rights as if they were a distinctive feature of your offer
11. Using editorial content to promote a product without disclosing it is paid promotion
12. Making inaccurate claims about risks to personal security if the consumer does not purchase
13. Submitting or commissioning fake reviews, or concealing that reviews were incentivised
14. Promoting a product to deliberately mislead consumers about who manufactured it
15. Promoting schemes where compensation comes primarily from recruiting others, not selling products
16. Claiming you are about to cease trading or move premises when you are not
17. Claiming products can help win games of chance
18. Falsely claiming a product can cure illnesses or medical conditions
19. Giving inaccurate information about market conditions to induce purchase at unfavourable terms
20. Offering competitions or prizes without awarding the prizes described
21. Describing products as 'free' when the consumer must pay more than the cost of delivery
22. Sending invoices or payment demands for products the consumer has not ordered
23. Pretending to be a private seller when you are actually a business
24. Creating false impression that after-sales service is available in countries where it is not

Aggressive practices (always unlawful)

25. Creating the impression that consumers cannot leave premises until a contract is signed
26. Ignoring requests to leave or not return when conducting personal visits to homes
27. Making persistent and unwanted solicitations by phone, email, or other media
28. Requiring irrelevant documents or failing to respond to correspondence to deter insurance claims
29. Directly exhorting children to buy products or to persuade parents to buy for them
30. Demanding payment for products supplied but not requested by the consumer
31. Creating false impressions about winning prizes, especially where claiming requires payment
32. Telling consumers that if they do not buy, your job or livelihood is at stake

Practices 11 (undisclosed advertorial), 13 (fake or incentivised reviews) and 29 (direct child advertising) in the list above are unlawful but are not criminal offences. In the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 these are Schedule 20 paragraphs 12, 13 and 30, excluded by section 237(8). All other banned practices can result in criminal prosecution.

Criminal offences and penalties

Breaching the unfair trading rules is a criminal offence. Most offences are strict liability - the prosecution does not need to prove you intended to mislead or acted recklessly.

Penalties

Directors, managers and other company officers can be personally prosecuted if the offence was committed with their consent or connivance, or through their neglect.

Prosecution time limits

A prosecution must start within 3 years of the offence or 1 year of the prosecutor discovering it, whichever ends first.

The due diligence defence

For strict liability offences (misleading actions, misleading omissions, aggressive practices and banned practices), you have a defence if you can prove that the offence was caused by a mistake, reliance on information supplied to you, the act or default of another person, an accident or another cause beyond your control, and that you took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid it.

If you are relying on information from another person or blaming another person's actions, you must give the prosecutor written notice identifying that person at least 7 clear days before the hearing.

What 'due diligence' means in practice

To establish due diligence, you should be able to show:

• clear written procedures for advertising, pricing and customer communications
• regular staff training on consumer protection law and your procedures
• processes to check claims before you make them, such as checking stock before advertising
• checks on supplier claims before you rely on them in your own marketing
• systems to spot and deal with complaints that might indicate unfair practices
• records showing you followed your procedures

Review your marketing and sales practices

Check these areas regularly, and keep a record of each review as part of your due diligence:

• Advertising claims. Make sure you can back up every factual claim, and remove any you cannot.
• Price promotions. Only use a 'was' price you genuinely charged, and do not inflate reference prices to make a discount look bigger.
• Product descriptions. Keep them accurate and consistent in store, on your website and on marketplace listings.
• Sales scripts. Check staff are not using pressure tactics, false urgency or misleading comparisons.
• Online reviews. Make sure you are not publishing fake reviews, hiding negative ones or paying for reviews without saying so.
• After-sale practices. Make returns, cancellations and complaints straightforward for customers.

Consumer rights to redress

Consumers who are victims of misleading actions or aggressive practices have civil remedies. These sit in Part 4A of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Although the rest of those Regulations was revoked on 6 April 2025, Part 4A is saved and stays in force until regulations are made under section 233 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Until then, the redress rules below are still the operative law.

Misleading omissions do not give rise to consumer redress rights - only misleading actions and aggressive practices.

Consumer remedies

Discount bands

When the right to unwind has expired, consumers can claim a percentage discount based on the severity of the prohibited practice:

• 25% where the practice is more than minor
• 50% where it is significant
• 75% where it is serious
• 100% (a full refund) where it is very serious

For high-value contracts (over £5,000), the discount may instead be calculated as the difference between the market price and what the consumer paid.

Enforcement

Local authority Trading Standards services are the main enforcers for local trading issues, and the CMA deals with UK-wide and market-wide issues.

Enforcement powers

Enforcement officers can:

• Enter and inspect business premises (at reasonable hours)
• Inspect products and take samples
• Inspect and require production of documents
• Seize and detain goods and documents as evidence
• Obtain warrants to enter premises using reasonable force

Intentionally obstructing an officer or failing to produce required documents is a criminal offence (fine up to level 3 on the standard scale).

CMA direct enforcement (from 6 April 2025)

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 gives the CMA power to:

• Investigate consumer law breaches without going to court
• Impose fines up to £300,000 or 10% of global turnover (whichever is higher)
• Impose daily fines for continuing breaches
• Issue enforcement orders requiring businesses to change practices
• Order compensation for affected consumers
• Accept undertakings during an investigation, where you commit to stop the practice, which can include steps such as compensating consumers

If Trading Standards or the CMA contacts you about a possible breach, respond promptly, gather your compliance records (training logs, approval processes, audits) and consider taking legal advice.