United Kingdom: Trade Regulation & Practices

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has imposed its first conduct requirements on Google under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, targeting how the tech giant handles publisher content in AI-generated responses, ranks businesses in search results, and enables data portability. These legally enforceable obligations go beyond European Union requirements and open the door for affected companies to take direct legal action against Google for non-compliance.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has exercised its new enforcement powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 for the first time, imposing a £4.2 million penalty on The AA for drip pricing practices.

The Competition and Markets Authority has issued its first infringement decision under the UK's new consumer enforcement regime, fining the AA £4.2 million for misleading pricing practices and requiring substantial consumer refunds. This landmark case signals a fundamental shift in UK consumer protection enforcement, with businesses now facing significantly tougher penalties including fines up to 10% of turnover and mandatory consumer redress schemes.

With online sales now integral to many retail businesses, the issue of whether luxury goods suppliers can stop goods which qualify for selective distribution from being sold via third party platforms such as Amazon and eBay is more important than ever.

In an effort to help national authorities assess and challenge unfair commercial practices, the EU Commission has issued guidelines on 26 September 2017 on the application of consumer and food laws...

On 28 March 2017, the FCA announced that Tesco plc and Tesco Stores Limited ("Tesco") had agreed to committing market abuse in relation to a trading update published on 29 August 2014.

The CMA has published its provisional findings in its review of personal current accounts and SME banking, provisionally finding that that low customer engagement, barriers to switching and search and incumbency advantages were leading to adverse effects on competition (AECs) in both markets.

Online travel agencies which greatly helped maintain occupancy rates during the difficult years in the 1990s have been accused of exploiting their position of strength in a manner that contravenes the rules of fair competition.

On 11 September 2015, the European Commission released an updated version of its Explanatory Note on Inspections pursuant to Article 20(4) of Council Regulation N° 1/2003.