Draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025

Justin Madders Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2025 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025. 

Noswaith dda, Mrs Harris; it is a pleasure to see you in the Chair. I hope not to detain colleagues long. The regulations, which were laid in draft before the House on 18 December 2024, are quite straightforward and relate to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which received Royal Assent in May of that year. They amend legislation in consequence of parts 3 and 4 and chapter 2 of part 5 of the Act.

Part 3 of the Act updates and strengthens enforcement of consumer protection law. Part 4 updates the legislative framework on consumer protections against unfair trading, introduces substantive new consumer rights in relation to subscription contracts and consumer saving schemes, and introduces reforms to alternative dispute resolution. Chapter 2 of part 5 allows UK regulators to provide investigative assistance to overseas regulators with corresponding functions in relation to competition, consumer protection and digital markets. To ensure that the provisions of the Act take effect as Parliament intended, it is necessary to make consequential amendments to the enactments listed in the schedule to the regulations. These relatively minor changes do not materially alter policy, but they are needed to ensure the seamless functioning of consumer protection law and enforcement.

The amendments in the instrument fall into three broad categories. First, they extend the application of legislative provisions that permit public authorities to share certain information with consumer enforcers. At present, persons or bodies that gather information using powers under certain statutes may share that information to facilitate consumer enforcement, consumer protection or overseas investigatory assistance, in certain circumstances. The sharing is permitted by sections of the relevant statutes, which I will refer to as information gateways; these list the consumer protection legislation in relation to which information may be shared. For example, where Ofcom gathers information using powers in the Telecommunications Act 1984, the information gateway in section 101 of that Act permits it to share that information with the Competition and Markets Authority for the purpose of enforcement of, among other measures, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

As I said, the DMCC Act introduces a new consumer enforcement framework, new and updated consumer protections and new provisions on investigative assistance to overseas regulators. It is therefore necessary to add references to these provisions to the information gateways in various statutes. Were these provisions not to be updated, the current approach whereby information may be shared by public bodies to facilitate consumer protection would be unavailable in respect of the new provisions in the DMCC Act. That would compromise consumer protection, which could lead to consumer harm.

The second group of amendments are made to schedule 5 to the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which sets out the investigatory powers of consumer law enforcers. These amendments ensure the CMA can use relevant investigatory powers to monitor compliance with certain of its new direct enforcement notices as it may do in relation to other direct or court enforcement orders. For example, at present the CMA may require a person to provide information for the purpose of ascertaining whether a person is complying with a court enforcement order against them. This enables the CMA to ensure that enforcement orders are being complied with, and that the enforcement proceedings are therefore having the desired effect. Under the DMCC Act, the CMA will also be able to use investigatory powers to monitor compliance with certain of its direct enforcement functions.

The DMCC Act introduces a new power for the CMA to give final enforcement notices for failing to respond to an information notice alongside its other direct enforcement powers. The amendments in the draft regulations are necessary to ensure that the CMA is empowered to monitor compliance with this new power in the same way as in relation to the rest of the court-based and direct enforcement regime.

Finally, the draft instrument updates references to consumer laws that have been repealed and replaced by the DMCC Act, with references to the new relevant provisions introduced. Again, the amendments do not materially change the policy or the effect of the underlying law; they simply keep the statute book up-to-date in the way we all want.

I hope it is clear the intention in the regulations is to update and maintain the frameworks that underpin consumer law and its enforcement, in order to ensure that the consumer reforms can be introduced seamlessly and with no inadvertent detriment to consumers. I invite the Committee to support the instrument.

--- Later in debate ---

[Justin Madders]

I congratulate the shadow Minister on taking a second bite of the cherry on the argument around subscription traps and trade union subscriptions. On the data protection issue, this instrument comes with basically the same safeguards that have always been in place, and that will not change. It is just the legislative envelope that is being updated, so those protections will remain.

On the shadow Minister’s political point, he is of course aware that membership of a trade union is not akin to a Netflix subscription. To be a member is to be part of an important industrial body and a society that represents people at work and provides collective bargaining in appropriate circumstances. It is not like ordering a film or something on Amazon. It is completely different and our contention is that this instrument is about people having rights as consumers, not rights as workers. That is why we make the distinction. On that note, I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s support and I commend the regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.