Unfair Commercial Practice
A commercial practice prohibited under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 because it contravenes the requirements of professional diligence and materially distorts, or is likely to distort, the economic behaviour of consumers — including a fixed list of practices that are always considered unfair.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 recast and modernised the UK's consumer protection regime, replacing the earlier Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Section 225 states the core prohibition simply: 'unfair commercial practices are prohibited', extending even to the promotion of unfair practices through a code of conduct, whether by the person responsible for the code's content or the person responsible for monitoring compliance with it.
Alongside this general prohibition, Schedule 20 lists specific practices which are 'in all circumstances considered unfair' — meaning the CMA and courts do not need to show any actual effect on consumers, only that the practice occurred. These per se unfair practices include falsely claiming to be a signatory to a code of conduct, falsely claiming a code of conduct has an endorsement it does not have, displaying a trust mark without proper authorisation, and falsely claiming a product or offer is available only for a limited time to pressure consumers into an immediate purchasing decision.
Related terms
Official sources
This explanation is drawn from the official sources below; every substantive statement is verified against them. For advice on a specific matter, see our find help page.