European Commission proposes Digital Fairness Act for AI shopping agents

The European Commission presented its proposal for a Digital Fairness Act (DFA) and a revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation in Brussels on November 11, 2026, according to the Commission press release on the Digital Fairness Act. The proposal sets the EU's first consumer-law rules for AI shopping agents and AI companion chatbots.

What the proposal changes

• The DFA would turn the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive into a Regulation directly applicable in every EU member state.
• Consumers would get clear rights when using an AI agent to buy products on their behalf.
• Dark patterns would be banned, including fake 'almost sold out' claims and shaming cancellation language, and consumers could turn off autoplay and persistent prompts.
• Pay-to-win features and loot boxes would be banned for minors, and virtual in-app currencies would have to show real-money value and be off by default for minors.
• Drip pricing would be banned, with the full price including fees and taxes shown upfront, and dynamic-pricing queues would have to show the current and maximum price in real time.
• The Commission would gain direct enforcement power, with fines of up to 6% of a company's worldwide annual turnover for serious breaches.

What it means for people who build with AI

This is the EU's first consumer-law framework to explicitly cover AI shopping agents and AI companion chatbots, so it directly shapes compliance requirements for any AI product sold to EU consumers. Shopping-agent builders will need to design around the new rights consumers get when an agent buys on their behalf, and companion-chatbot builders will need to offer real controls over addictive features like autoplay instead of leaving them on by default.

Next steps

The Commission expects the measures to save EU consumers up to 13.7 billion euro a year. The proposal, detailed further in the Commission Q&A on the Consumer Package, now goes to the European Parliament and the Council for review.

Sources

• Commission strengthens consumer protection laws, making them fit for the digital age (European Commission, November 11, 2026, official)
• Questions and answers on the Consumer Package (European Commission, November 11, 2026, official)

Written with AI assistance, strictly from the sources listed above. Before it went live, automated checks verified its dates, sources and every language edition.