Eleanor Leedham comments on the new Digital Markets Act focusing on consumer protection, merger control, and the power of Big Tech

While the DMCCA strengthens individual consumer protections, it does not introduce provisions for collective redress actions. This means that consumers who have suffered similar harm from a business’s actions cannot join forces and pursue a single, consolidated lawsuit against the company through the CMA.

Special provisions have nonetheless been made to monitor global technology firms which could ultimately pave the way for collective action. Eleanor Leedham, a committee member of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association and of counsel at law firm Charles Lyndon explains in an email: “The Act gives wider enforcement powers to the CMA to police the activities of big-tech companies – especially those behemoths that are given ‘strategic market status’ (SMS) by the regulator.”

“The CMA is currently consulting on their guidance on how they will implement this new regime. As things progress we can expect to better understand its vision for how firms will be designated as having SMS, and how they will be instructed to change their conduct if they are found to be behaving in a manner that is detrimental to consumers.”

Leedham concludes: “The final Act that received Royal Assent did not end up creating separate causes of legal action per se. However, if the CMA finds that a designated firm has been abusing its position, this could lead to ‘follow-on’ big ticket collective action cases being mounted on behalf of consumers.”