European Consumer Summit 2025: Key Takeaways
By James Tamim - 17/06/2025
Key takeaways from the 2025 European Consumer Summit, Analysing the Parliamentary INI Protection of Minors Online Draft Report, and Loot Box ban.
European Consumer Summit 2025
The European Consumer Summit took place on the 20th of May, bringing together MEPs, Commission officials, and consumer groups to discuss the priorities for the upcoming Digital Fairness Act.
In one of the thematic discussions, Professor Monika Namysłowska advocated for a clear, binding list of prohibited practices under the new legislation, pointing to the model already used in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: “We can have a blacklist like now in Annex I of the UCPD.”
MEP Christel Schaldemose emphasised the urgency of strengthening safeguards for minors online: “I hope that my initiative report, with hopefully the support of the Parliament sooner or later, will be the basis for the Digital Fairness Act so that we can close the loopholes we still have when it comes to protection of minors.”
Since the Commission hasn’t made the livestream available for replay, I’ve uploaded it to YouTube. You can watch the replay here:
Parliamentary INI Protection of Minors Online Draft Report
Schaldemose is referring to the European Parliament’s own-initiative report on the “Protection of Minors Online” for which she serves as rapporteur. The final report is expected to be voted on in November and many interest groups are engaging with MEPs regarding this.
The report calls on the Commission to ensure that the upcoming Digital Fairness Act guarantees a high level of protection for minors who play video games, in particular by prohibiting loot boxes, in-app currencies, pay-to-progress and pay-to-win mechanisms, and other randomised content in exchange for real money in games likely to be accessed by minors.
It further demands the swift adoption of ambitious, pragmatic guidelines under the Digital Services Act to enforce age verification and harmonise fragmented age-assurance mechanisms across the Union, strengthen independent oversight of very large platforms’ risk assessments, and establish an EU-level rapid alert system for emerging harmful trends. The draft also advocates a horizontal legislative initiative to ban addictive design features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, rewards for continuous use and algorithmic “rabbit holes” and calls for a revision of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive to clearly outlaw dark patterns. Finally, it presses for an extension of the DSA’s prohibition on targeted advertising to all traders, stricter rules on influencer marketing, and robust transparency and watermarking requirements for AI-generated content under the AI Act to prevent manipulation of minors online.
IMCO Draft Report: Protecting Minors Online 166KB ∙ PDF file
Commission CPAG Meeting Minutes
The minutes of the Commission’s last CPAG meeting in April are now available.
CPAG Minutes April - 147KB ∙ PDF file
In the Consumer Policy Advisory Group’s plenary meeting on April 3rd, business stakeholders emphasised that the Digital Fairness Act must be calibrated to close only well-defined gaps in the existing digital rulebook ensuring coherence with DSA/DMA obligations and avoiding duplicative or overlapping requirements. Consumer representatives cautioned against limiting the vulnerability remit to children alone, calling instead for a dynamic, risk-based concept of vulnerability that would impose due-diligence obligations across all consumer cohorts and sectors.
BEUC Shein
On 5 June 2025, BEUC and 25 consumer organisations filed a formal complaint with the European Commission and national authorities accusing SHEIN of using dark patterns like fake scarcity messages and nagging notifications to push shoppers into buying more than intended. This action builds on the Commission’s own Shein probe into deceptive online practices under the powers granted by the Digital Services Act (DSA). The result of this could influence the content of the Digital Fairness Act.
DSA Guidelines on Protection of Minors Online: Loot Box Ban
The Commission’s consultation on the guidelines for the protection of minors under the DSA (article 28) propose that online platforms must prevent minors from accessing virtual items with random or gambling-like features, such as loot boxes, and introduce friction between content and purchases to mitigate excessive spending and addictive behaviours (Page 25, Lines 661–665). Stakeholders are now watching to see if these protections will be enshrined in the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, especially given Commissioner McGrath’s emphasis on combating addictive design features and bolstering safeguards for minors under the DFA framework. Leon Xiao points out that this proposition in the DSA (article 28) “feels rather snuck in”.
Article 28 DSA - Guidelines for public consultation - 605KB ∙ PDF file
CEP My Data is Mine Award
The Consumer Empowerment Project announced the My Data Is Mine Award 2025. They are running a call for papers targeting young scholars under 35 on the topic of “Digital Fairness and Data Protection in the Age of AI”. Selected participants will have the opportunity to present at Web Summit Lisbon and be featured in the 2026 edition of the My Data Is Mine book, unveiled annually at the Privacy Symposium in Venice. You can submit your papers before the September 30th deadline here.
Joint industry statement on the DFA
Last week, DOT Europe, Allied for Startups, IAB Europe and other industry groups published a joint statement on the Digital Fairness Act.
CPDP Conference 2025 - Rewatch
The CPDP Conference 2025 took place in May and hosted two key panel discussions on the Digital Fairness Act. These events are now available online to rewatch.
The “Towards the Digital Fairness Act” panel featured Maria-Myrto Kanellopoulou who is the Head of Unit for Consumer Law at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. Alongside Kanellopoulou on the panel was Simona de Heer who is the Tech Policy Advisor for Green MEP Kim van Sparrentak.
The “Designed to Hook” panel welcomed Kim van Sparrentak.
Consumer Agenda 2025-2030
The feedback period for the Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 was extended by three weeks. The deadline is now August 31st 2025.
Joint Industry Statement On The Digital Fairness Act - 253KB ∙ PDF file