UK competition and digital-markets regulation: the CMA’s digital markets and strategic market status regime, the DMCCA 2024, concurrent competition powers, and where it meets data and payments.
In short: the Apple gatekeeper judgment of 8 July 2026 dismissed all three of Apple’s actions against its Digital Markets Act designation. The General Court held that a gatekeeper cannot challenge Article 6(7) in an action against its designation decision, because designation only starts a six-month clock; the duty comes from Article 3(10) read with…
In short: The CMA drip pricing investigations into Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School were opened on 18 August 2026, and each firm had received a CMA advisory letter nine months earlier. Under section 225(4)(b) of the DMCCA, omitting the total price from an invitation to purchase is unfair without proof that any consumer…
In short: the CMA markets remedies review covers 33 market investigation remedies made between 1987 and 2017. On 12 August 2026 the Competition and Markets Authority provisionally decided to remove 23 in full, remove 4 in part and retain 6. Representations close at 5pm on 11 September 2026, with a final decision expected in October…
In short: In the CMA Microsoft investigation, opened on 27 July 2026, the CMA is examining whether Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers received clear information before plans that added Copilot renewed at higher prices. The CMA is applying consumer protection law already in force; the government anticipates that the DMCCA subscription contracts regime will…
In short: AI Office enforcement covers a company only where it built the AI system on its own general-purpose AI model, or where the system operates inside a platform designated under the Digital Services Act. Every other business remains subject to national regulation. The difference matters, because the AI Office can enter and seal premises…
In short: Radio selection services are voice-activated services that let a user pick a UK radio station and play it by spoken command. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) proposed on 15 July 2026 to designate Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri under section 362BB of the Communications Act 2003. The consultation…
In short: The Google DMA fine of €890 million, imposed by the European Commission on 23 July 2026, is the first time the Commission has penalised Google under the Digital Markets Act: €460 million for self-preferencing its own results on Google Search under Article 6(5), and €430 million for restricting steering on Google Play under…
In short: The AliExpress DSA EU fine of €550 million, imposed on 20 July 2026, is the first penalty for breaching the systemic-risk duties in Articles 34 and 35 of the EU Digital Services Act. UK law applies to the same listings through Ofcom, the CMA and existing product safety enforcement, though none of those…
In short: DMA specification decisions adopted by the European Commission on 16 July 2026 tell Google exactly how to comply with two Digital Markets Act obligations: opening eleven defined Android features to rival AI assistants by 1 August 2027 at the latest, and sharing anonymised Google Search ranking, query, click and view data with competing…
In short: Software licence exhaustion is the principle that once a copyright owner has sold a copy of its software, it cannot use copyright to control the resale of that copy. On 7 July 2026, in ValueLicensing v Microsoft [2026] EWCA Civ 872, the Court of Appeal dismissed Microsoft’s appeals and allowed a reseller’s competition…
In short: CMA steering conduct requirements, proposed on 30 June 2026, would stop Apple banning, and Google restricting, the way UK app developers point their own customers to cheaper off-platform payment. A separate call for evidence asks how third parties should reach the iPhone’s contactless chip. Both close in late July 2026. By Rob Bratby,…
In short: On 25 June 2026 the European Commission told Amazon and Microsoft that it provisionally regards AWS and Azure as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act. That preliminary view is the first move towards DMA cloud gatekeeper designation of a cloud service. The UK looked at the same two firms and chose a lighter…