Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring transparent display of price paid per gramme among (a) over-the-counter and (b) online operators in the gold-buying sector.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices, including misleading actions that are likely to impact the average consumer’s transactional decision. The DMCCA also requires traders to display prices inclusive of all taxes and unavoidable charges before payment is made. Prices must be accurate and not misleading. Failure to do this may be taken as an unfair trading practice and constitute an offence.

The department has not made any assessment on this matter, but we continue to closely monitor consumer protection issues.