The long-awaited secondary legislation and related governmental guidance relating to the new subscription regime under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (the DMCCA) have now been published. These documents confirm this regime will come into force from 1 January 2027, following the current government’s announcement in August that this would be brought forward from the previously proposed Spring 2027 start date. There is no suggestion that either of these documents will be subject to further consultation.
For the purposes of this article, we are focusing on the areas where these documents provide further clarity or information on areas of uncertainty, or those lacking detail under the existing DMCCA framework. For an introduction to the main requirements of the subscription regime, please see our article here.
It is important to note at the outset that there is now confirmation that the new regime will not apply to subscriptions taken out before 1 January 2027, even if they are subsequently renewed after this date. The guidance does note that it would be considered “best practice” to treat such subscriptions as if the new rules did apply (and indeed it may be easiest in practice to do so), but it is not a legal obligation.
Charitable Memberships
For charities waiting for more clarity on whether the subscription regime is likely to apply to their membership offerings, there is now a specific definition of the relevant exclusion within the new secondary legislation (The Consumer Subscription Contracts (Cancellation and Information) Regulations 2026) taking certain memberships outside of the scope of the regime. This exclusion will apply where the membership provides for a consumer to view one of more of the following in the course of carrying out its charitable purpose:
Property (namely “buildings, grounds or other land, plants, animals, works of art, artefacts and property of a scientific nature”) preserved, maintained, kept or created by the charity; or
Performances or films produced or hosted by the charity.
Specific examples listed in the guidance include museums, galleries, historic properties, heritage sites, artefacts, landscapes, wildlife, gardens, and theatre or festival performances/events involving film, theatre, music, dance or spoken word.
Content of notices
The SCRs and related guidance provide further information and detail about the acceptable mediums and required content for the various renewal, cooling-off and end of contract notices that traders are required to send to consumers at various stages of the subscription, and how they can often (but not always) be included with other content such as marketing materials. In particular the guidance also includes some useful examples of how and when renewal reminders are to be provided to consumers, as the rules can be quite complicated here.
Refunds
Similarly to the above, the SCRs and guidance now fill in some of the gaps in terms of the existing DMCCA framework in terms of clarifying what further payment liabilities or (in most cases) refunds a consumer is entitled to in the event they exercise their right to cancel during a cooling-off period. These can be broadly summarised as follows:
Goods – consumers will generally be entitled to their money back, though they may need to return any goods they have already received and deductions may be made for any excessive handling (though note that different rules apply in the case of bespoke, perishable, sealed and hired items);
Services - consumers can generally receive a refund, but may still have to pay for the proportion of the service they received before cancelling. Typically this will be calculated on a time or unit basis, but it does not always have to be; and
Digital content - consumers will lose their cancellation right during the initial cooling-off period once supply begins, provided they expressly agree to this in advance and acknowledge that they will lose this cancellation right. During any renewal cooling-off period consumers can cancel and may have to pay for the digital content supplied before cancellation, but they do not have to waive their right to an complete refund.
The guidance also provides further information in the context of “mixed” contracts, which involve the provision of a combination of goods, services and digital content.
There are also new rules about a consumer’s right to a refund in circumstances where they seek to terminate the contract as a result of the trader’s breach of the implied terms of the subscription contract (which broadly relate to an obligation to comply with their various obligations under this subscription regime).
Cancellation
Further clarification is provided as to how consumers must be able to end their subscription “in a straightforward way” as required by the DMCCA. For example, the guidance confirms that consumers signing up for a subscription online should be able to exit using the same online medium i.e. if they sign up via an app, an exit route should be available on the app as well, rather than another online method e.g. the trader’s website.
Cancellation doesn’t have to be via a clearly labelled button, though this is likely to be considered good practice); a simple webform will also suffice. However, requiring the consumer to send an email would not be sufficiently straightforward. The guidance also clarifies that although offers can be made, and feedback sought, as part of the exit process these must not drag out or delay the process, or require the consumer to take any unnecessary steps e.g. the consumer cannot be mandated to provide feedback before they exit.
How we can help
If you require advice or assistance understanding your obligations under this new regime, to help implement required changes, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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