Protection from unfair trading (consumers' rights of redress)

This guidance is for England, Scotland and Wales

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (known as the CPRs) controlled unfair practices used by traders when dealing with consumers, and created criminal offences for traders that breached them, until 5 April 2025. As of 6 April 2025, the criminal law controls are to be found in Part 4, Chapter 1 of the Digital Marketing, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA). For more information on the new Act, see 'Protection from unfair trading (criminal law)'.

The rights of redress for consumers who have been affected by unfair commercial practices have not yet transferred to the DMCCA and are still to be found in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs).

This guide, therefore, covers the provisions of the CPRs that provide rights of redress for consumers in respect of misleading and aggressive commercial practices, and sets out the remedies available to them.

Consumers' rights of redress

The CPRs continue (for the time being) to provide consumers with rights of redress enforceable through the civil courts. For a consumer to have these rights of redress, certain conditions must be met.

The first condition is that the consumer does one of the following:

• enters into a contract to buy a product (goods, services, digital content, etc) from a trader (a business-to-consumer contract)
• enters into a contract to sell goods to a trader (a consumer-to-business contract)
• makes a payment to a trader for supply of a product (consumer-payment contract)

The second condition is that the trader has engaged in a prohibited practice. A prohibited practice means a misleading action or an aggressive practice (see below).

Furthermore, the trader will be liable for misleading actions or aggressive practices carried out by the producers of goods or digital content that they supply if the trader could reasonably have known of the prohibited practice. An example of this would be where a manufacturer's television advertisements for a product are misleading.

The final condition is that the prohibited practice was a significant factor in the consumer's decision to enter into the contract.

Misleading actions

Regulation 5 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 prohibits giving false information to, or deceiving, consumers. A misleading action occurs when a practice misleads through the information it contains or its deceptive presentation (even if the information is factually correct) and causes, or is likely to cause, the average consumer to take a transactional decision that they would not have taken otherwise.

The term 'transactional decision', for the purposes of rights of redress, means the consumer deciding to enter into a contract with the trader for any of the following:

• the sale or supply of a product to the consumer
• the consumer deciding to sell goods to the trader (for example, trading in a car)
• the consumer making a payment to a trader for the supply of a product

There are three different types of misleading action:

• misleading information generally
• creating confusion with competitors' products
• failing to honour commitments made in a code of conduct

The information that may be considered as misleading is very wide and is listed in the legislation itself; it includes such things as:

• the existence or nature of the product - for example, advertising goods that don't exist
• the main characteristics of the product - for example, the availability, benefits, fitness for purpose or the geographical origin of the product
• the price or the manner in which it is calculated
• the need for a service, part, replacement or repair
• the nature, attributes and rights of the trader, such as qualifications

Aggressive practices

Regulation 7 of the CPRs prohibits aggressive commercial practices that intimidate or exploit consumers, restricting their ability to make free or informed choices. In order for an aggressive practice to be unfair, it must cause, or be likely to cause, the average consumer to take a transactional decision (see above) that they would not have taken otherwise.

A commercial practice is aggressive if it:

• significantly impairs, or is likely to significantly impair, the average consumer's freedom of choice or conduct in relation to the product through the use of harassment, coercion or undue influence
  and
• thereby causes them to take a transactional decision that they would not have taken otherwise

To decide whether a practice breaches this regulation, the following will be taken into account:

• timing, location, nature or persistence
• use of threatening or abusive language or behaviour
• exploitation by the trader of any specific misfortune or circumstance that impairs the consumer's judgement in order to influence their decision with regard to the product
• any onerous or disproportionate non-contractual barrier imposed by the trader where a consumer wishes to exercise rights under the contract - for example, rights to terminate the contract or switch to another product or trader
• any threat to take action that cannot legally be taken

Note: 'coercion' includes the use of physical force, and 'undue influence' means exploiting a position of power in relation to the consumer so as to apply pressure - even without the use of (or threatening to use) physical force - in a way that significantly limits the consumer's ability to make an informed decision.

The remedies available to consumers

There are three main remedies available to a consumer: the right to unwind, the right to a discount, and the right to damages.

Right to unwind

The right to unwind allows the consumer to undo the contract and be put back into the position they were in before it was made. There are restrictions to this:

• the consumer must reject the goods within 90 days. In general, this 90-day period begins either when the goods are delivered or the service begins
• the right to unwind only applies where it is still possible to undo the transaction. If the goods or digital content have been fully consumed or the service fully completed, then this would not be possible. However, if it is still possible to return some element of the goods or reject an element of the service, then this would be enough. Consumers are entitled to a full refund, even though they may have received some benefit from it
• consumers cannot unwind a contract if they have already claimed a discount with respect to that contract and the same prohibited practice (see below regarding discounts)

The consumer's right to a full refund is reduced in the case of continuous-supply products (such as utility contracts).

Right to a discount

This right applies where the right to unwind has been lost. This may be because of a delay in complaining or because the goods have been fully consumed. For goods and services costing less than £5,000 there is a fixed-percentage discount, ranging from 25% for more-than-minor issues to 100% for very serious cases.

Above £5,000, if the misleading or aggressive practice led the consumer to pay more than the market price for the product, then the price is reduced to the market price. Otherwise, the fixed-percentage discounts will still apply.

In cases where the right to unwind still exists, but the consumer does not wish to end the contract, the consumer may claim a discount instead.

Damages

Consumers can claim damages if they have suffered reasonably foreseeable losses that exceed the price paid for goods, digital content and services. These damages can cover alarm, distress, physical inconvenience or discomfort as well as economic losses suffered as a result of the prohibited practice. Damages may be claimed in addition to unwinding the contract or claiming a discount. Damages are not payable if the trader can establish that the prohibited practice occurred due to a mistake, reliance on information supplied to the trader by another person, the act or default of another person, an accident or some other cause beyond the trader's control, and the trader had taken all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the prohibited practice occurring.

Further information

Guidance on the CPRs is available on the GOV.UK website.

Also, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (a predecessor of the Department for Business and Trade) produced specific guidance on consumers' rights of redress under the Regulations: Misleading and Aggressive Commercial Practices: New Private Rights for Consumers.

Trading Standards

For more information on the work of Trading Standards services - and the possible consequences of not abiding by the law - please see 'Trading Standards: powers, enforcement and penalties'.

In this update

This guide has split into two parts following the coming-into-force of parts of Part 4, Chapter 1 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA). DMCCA information can be found in 'Protection from unfair trading (criminal law)'.

Last reviewed / updated: April 2025