ABSTRACT
Europe may soon experience a new wave of digital consumer protection regulation. One would be forgiven for rolling their eyes upon hearing the words ‘new EU digital regulation’. After all, in the past couple of years, Brussels has enacted a bulk of new digital measures,such as the Digital Services Act (DSA), the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and the AI Act, to name the most debated ones. While those take root and slowly appear in CJEU requests, talks around a new regulation push are circulating in Brussels. In October 2024, I wrote on the intention of the Commission to adopt a Digital Fairness Act (DFA). Insiders at Berlaymont confirm that an official proposal might land as early as mid-2026. Supporters see the DFA as a reality check and update of Europe’s consumer-protection labyrinth. However, critics label it as just another set of burdensome rules digital businesses would have to comply with. The question now is not whether the DFA is coming but why the Commission believes Europe needs it, what it might look like, and what it would mean for consumers.
This piece is a continuation of the one published last year on the BPH, (Digital Fairness Act: If and How?), for two reasons. First, it continues the debate by asking whether the potential benefits of a new measure outweigh the risks of regulatory fatigue and second, it compiles in an anonymised way series of discussions with private sector representatives, scholars as well as EU public bodies officials.
Nikiforov, Liubomir, Are We Forcing Companies to Be ‘Fair’? (April 2, 2025).
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