PRESS RELEASE - EUROPEAN COMMISSION

DAILY NEWS

Brussels, 11 November 2026

Commission strengthens consumer protection laws, making them fit for the digital age

Today, the European Commission presented its Proposal for a Digital Fairness Act (DFA) - a major update of the EU consumer protection rules to ensure that consumers in the EU enjoy the same high level of protection online as they do offline.

Alongside it, the Commission proposed a revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation (CPC Regulation), granting the Commission stronger powers to directly investigate and issue fines in large-scale cases that have a significant impact on consumers across the Single Market.

Together, these initiatives will build on the existing digital rulebook to strengthen consumer protection, contribute to fairer online markets and create a level-playing field – allowing companies to compete, grow and innovate with confidence.  

The rapid growth of e-commerce and digital markets have transformed the way we shop, making it easier than ever for consumers to access goods and services. But this convenience must not come at the expense of fairness. Unfair commercial practices online, such as manipulative marketing tactics or hidden fees, undermine consumers' ability to make free and informed choices. Today's proposals will equip the EU with stronger tools to tackle these unfair practices, strengthen enforcement across the Single Market and simplify the rules businesses must follow, increasing compliance.  The result will be better protection for consumers and fairer competition for businesses, which all in all are expecting to save EU consumers up to €13.7 billion a year.

New protections online for consumers

The Digital Fairness Act proposal allows EU authorities to tackle unfair practices in digital markets more effectively, ensuring that all traders play by the same rules. The DFA will protect consumers of all ages shopping and browsing for goods or services online.

Key novelties of the proposal include:

• A ban on manipulative marketing tactics (so-called “dark patterns”) such as fake claims that a product is almost sold out that pressure consumers into purchasing decisions they might not otherwise make.
• Clear and transparent pricing, particularly prices of purchases made with virtual in-app currencies and when dynamic pricing is used for cultural and sports events. In virtual queues, companies will have to show the current price in real time and the highest possible price.
• Fairness by design, with the option for consumers to turn off addictive design features that encourage excessive or compulsive spending, such as persistent prompts. The proposal will also restrict unfair practices that encourage overspending, for example by banning gambling-like features for minors, such as pay-to-win and pay-to-progress.
• Clear disclosure of influencer marketing, requiring influencers to be transparent about commercial content and preventing the exploitation of the trust of minors in their audience.
• A restriction on unfair personalised ads and prices that target minors or take advantage of sensitive data.
• Digital contracts and subscriptions that are easier to cancel and an end to unwanted automatic renewals and free trials turning into subscription traps. Consumers will have the right to communicate with a human in customer service and will have clear rights when using an AI agent to buy products on their behalf.

The Digital Fairness Act proposal also contains simplification measures and today's proposals include a simplification directive with targeted amendments to the Consumer Rights Directive to simplify its application online. This includes simpler pre-contractual information requirements for repeat in-app purchases and clearer rules on how consumers can cancel digital media subscriptions within the withdrawal period.

Direct EU enforcement powers and improved national coordination

In today's day and age, digital markets evolve rapidly. So do unfair practices, which are proliferating online and know no borders. To keep our consumers safe and ensure businesses can compete fairly, we need to equip ourselves with the right tools to respond rapidly and effectively to breaches of consumer law. A centralised enforcement of EU consumer rules will help deal swiftly with high-impact cases, increasing the deterrence of EU rules, shielding honest businesses from unfair competition, and protecting consumers from harm. This why the revision of the CPC Regulation proposes to:

• Give the Commission direct powers to investigate large-scale cases with a major impact on consumers across the Single Market, with fines of up to 6% of a company's worldwide annual turnover.
• Speed up and improve coordination of national consumer authorities in cross-border cases, setting timelines for key steps and improving how penalties are coordinated, for example when fines are collected in different jurisdictions. 
• Strengthen enforcement against non-EU companies, by requiring them to appoint a legal representative in the EU to cooperate with national authorities and the Commission.

Next steps

The proposals will now be discussed by the European Parliament and Council.

Background

The Commission announced both the revision of the CPC Regulation and the Digital Fairness Act in the Commission's 2030 Consumer Agenda. The DFA was also included in the 2026 Commission Work Programme and the revision of consumer enforcement rules is included in the "One Europe, One Market" roadmap. These measures answer calls for stronger enforcement and protection against unfair digital practices.

The Proposal for a Digital Fairness Act builds on the findings of the Commission's 2024 Digital Fairness Fitness Check. The CPC Regulation established the CPC Network, which brings together national consumer protection authorities to investigate and address cross-border infringements of EU consumer law. The Commission currently cannot directly enforce these rules, but facilitates CPC enforcement actions in cases of widespread breaches with an EU dimension. Since the Regulation started applying in 2020, the Network has carried out more than 30 coordinated enforcement actions. The proposed CPC revision is based on the findings of the 2024 application report, which identified several shortcomings in the current enforcement system.

For more information

Questions and Answers

Factsheet

Digital Fairness Act website

Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation website

Digital Fairness Act (DFA) Regulation

DFA – Proposal amending the Consumer Rights Directive

Revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation

Quote(s)

The Single Market lives through its 450 million consumers. Our laws must keep up with the way people live, shop and do business today. This reform will make everyday life simpler, fairer and safer for consumers, while giving businesses the clarity and confidence they need to thrive.

Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy

Shopping has never been more convenient, but convenience must never come at the expense of fairness. Strong consumer protection is the foundation of competitiveness. Whether people shop online or in a physical store, they deserve the same high level of protection. Today we are proposing the most ambitious reform of EU consumer protection rules in a generation, so both consumers and businesses can make the most of digital markets with trust and confidence.

Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection

Bringing the current MFF to a successful close: agreement on the final Annual Budget

The Commission welcomes the agreement reached last evening between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the annual EU budget 2027. With the compromise on the final annual budget under the EU's 2021–2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, we are bringing to a close a programming period shaped by unprecedented crises, including a global pandemic, an energy crisis, rising inflation, the return of war to the European continent and conflict in the Middle East – all of which have reshaped Europe's economic and security landscape.

To step up to the challenge of the current geopolitical situation, the annual EU budget for 2027 includes major support to Ukraine, both through the Ukraine Facility and the Ukraine Support Loan. Support also continues for well-established priorities, including cohesion, agriculture, competitiveness, research and innovation, asylum and migration, security, defence, and the role of the European Union in the world.

The budget provides strong support to Member States and regions at a time when cohesion programmes are running at full speed, leading to a higher level of payments of €211.5 billion. This will provide targeted and reinforced funding for the Union's priorities in the areas of competitiveness, defence, affordable housing, water resilience, and energy transition. Funding for agriculture remains at a consistently high level as well, at times of high energy and fertiliser prices.

In the first full year of implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, €1.1 billion in additional funding for migration management will be made available to Member States.

The annual EU budget for 2027 allocates the following amounts to the various EU priorities:

Next steps

The annual budget for 2027 should now be formally adopted by the Council of the European Union and by the European Parliament. The vote in plenary, which will mark the end of the process, is currently scheduled for 24 November 2026.

Background

The annual EU budget for 2027 includes the expenditure covered by the appropriations under the long-term budget ceilings, financed from own resources. Two amounts for each programme are proposed in the Draft Budget, commitments and payments. "Commitments" refer to the funding that can be agreed in contracts in a given year, and "payments" to the money actually paid out. All amounts are in current prices.

The annual budget for 2027 is the last one under the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). It will ensure financing for important EU programmes, in the run-up to the next long-term budget adoption, the MFF 2028-2034.

For more information

Questions & answers - Agreement on EU annual budget 2027

All Annual Budget Documents

Annual budget procedure

Revision of the EU budget 2021-2027

2021-2027 long-term EU budget & NextGenerationEU

EU budget in motion

EU as a borrower

Quote(s)

The timely agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council allows us to maintain continuity in the Union’s actions and help us deliver on our shared priorities, in the last year of the current Multiannual Financial Framework.

Piotr Serafin, Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration