Ljubljana: The Digital Fairness Act is the next big consumer law the Commission plans to table, and the Commission work programme for 2026, COM(2025) 870, lists the legislative initiative for the fourth quarter of 2026. That leaves less than two months for President Ursula von der Leyen’s team to publish a proposal that could reshape how apps and online shops treat their users.
Consumer Commissioner Michael McGrath told the PL&B conference in Dublin that he would propose the law before the end of this year, according to PrivacyLaws, which paraphrases that timing. He described the plan as “refining our digital rulebook to provide greater certainty for authorities, businesses and consumers alike.”
The Digital Fairness Act is meant to close gaps that existing laws leave open. According to the Parliament’s Legislative Train, the Commission has named dark patterns, addictive design, influencer marketing, unfair personalisation and subscription traps as its main targets. The same list covers unfair contract terms and some information duties that the Commission wants to streamline for businesses.
McGrath has stressed that the law is “not meant to regulate specific types of online actors or technologies.” That wording suggests a horizontal approach, with obligations that apply to any trader whose design choices steer consumers against their own interest. The sources reviewed do not describe the text itself, because the Commission has not yet published it.
The Commission’s public consultation on the Digital Fairness Act closed on 24 October 2025, and the responses split along familiar lines. Consumer groups asked for tighter rules, and more than 200 civil society organisations urged the Commission in an open letter to deliver an ambitious proposal. Platforms such as TikTok argued for very limited intervention, since existing rules already apply.
Parliament’s research service has added ammunition. It published a briefing on influencer marketing in December 2025 and a note on addictive design in May 2026. Those papers give MEPs a factual base for the debate over features such as infinite scroll, autoplay and cancellation flows that are harder than sign-up flows.
Timing in the wider digital agenda adds pressure. The Digital Omnibus on AI reached a provisional agreement on 7 May, and the Omnibus that amends the GDPR is likely to enter trilogue this autumn. Businesses fear a stack of overlapping obligations, and the Commission will have to show that the Digital Fairness Act does not duplicate those texts.
Nobody outside the Commission has seen the draft, so every claim about its content remains speculation. What is clear is the calendar: the Digital Fairness Act is due by the end of the year, and the first look at its definitions of dark patterns will show whether consumers or platforms won the argument.
