Last week, I was in Berlin for a conference on the occasion of the Safer Internet Day 2026. This year’s hot topic was the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act (DFA). The event, co-hosted by the German Ministry of Justice and Bitkom, the German digital industry association, showed how the debate on the future of EU consumer law is gaining momentum.
First, it is becoming increasingly clear that the DFA will focus on the protection of minors. While this is important, it poses a challenge for the architecture of EU consumer law. Introducing specific consumer rights for minors will increase the complexity of the regulatory landscape. Moreover, adults may also be vulnerable to harms such as addictive design and unfair personalisation.
Second, it was rightly emphasised that the DFA should not add a new regulatory layer, but should aim to fill clearly identified gaps. In addition, it will be necessary to clarify the relationship between consumer law rules and the digital rulebook – in particular, the DSA/DMA – for example, regarding rules on harmful online choice architecture.
Finally, agentic commerce remains the blind spot in the political debate on the future of EU consumer law. The rise of AI agents could have a transformational impact on the e-commerce landscape. The DFA should not ignore these developments. The technical infrastructure for agentic commerce is growing rapidly from payment systems for AI agents to the recently published Uniform Commerce Protocol, which could become a cross-sector standard for agentic commerce. Against this background, it is important that the legal infrastructure of the EU single market is also “agent-ready”.
The upcoming CERRE Digital Platforms Summit on 25 February in Brussels offers a good opportunity to discuss these issues as well as the latest developments in the field of platform regulation.
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