SUMMARY:

The European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) has just published a new briefing on the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act (DFA).

The briefing provides an overview of the background to the initiative, the main issues currently under consideration and the different policy options that could shape the Commission’s proposal. It builds in particular on the Commission’s 2024 Fitness Check of EU consumer law in the digital environment and subsequent stakeholder consultations.

MORE INFORMATION

The EPRS briefing looks at a number of practices and regulatory challenges that could potentially be addressed through the DFA, including:

• Dark patterns and digital interface design that may influence consumers’ decisions;
• Addictive design, including features such as autoplay, infinite scroll, notifications and reward mechanisms;
• Unfair personalisation and profiling, particularly where consumer vulnerabilities may be exploited;
• Influencer marketing and the transparency of commercial communications;
• Dynamic and personalised pricing, including questions around transparency and consumer information;
• Digital contracts, including difficulties with cancelling subscriptions, automatic renewals and emerging forms of automated contracting.

The briefing also provides useful background on the interaction between these issues and the existing EU digital and consumer acquis, including the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive.

Importantly, the EPRS highlights the need for the future initiative to avoid duplication and ensure coherence with existing EU legislation, while addressing potential regulatory gaps and enforcement challenges. The briefing also reflects the differing views of stakeholders on whether the identified issues can be addressed through better enforcement of existing rules or require new binding provisions.

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NEXT STEPS

The European Commission is expected to publish its Digital Fairness Act proposal on 11 November 2026. The final scope and content of the initiative will only become clear once the Commission publishes its proposal.

Once the proposal is out, FESI will provide a detailed analysis of the proposal and further draft a position paper.