On 11 November 2026 the European Commission presented its proposal for a Digital Fairness Act. It is a proposal, not a law. The European Parliament and the Council now have to negotiate and agree a text, and no date has been set for that. Under the draft, the regulation would enter into force 20 days after publication and its obligations would apply 12 months later.
The rules are written for every business that sells to consumers in the EU, not only the large platforms. The Commission says they apply to all companies engaged in business-to-consumer commercial practices, and that enforcement will get tougher on companies based outside the EU. A revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation, presented in the same package, would require non-EU companies to appoint a legal representative inside the EU to deal with national authorities and the Commission.
Subscriptions you can actually cancel
For a small online business, the subscription rules are the part most likely to require changes. A free trial could no longer roll into a paid plan without the customer's active confirmation, and the customer would get a reminder before the trial ends. For contracts of six months or longer that renew automatically, the reminder would have to arrive no earlier than one month and no later than 14 days before the renewal. A business that skips it would have to let the customer cancel free of charge at any time. Cancelling a digital contract would take one clearly labelled function, followed by an acknowledgement.
Anyone selling software, an online course, an app or another digital subscription to EU customers should look at how a trial turns into a charge, whether a reminder goes out before renewal, and how many steps cancellation takes.
The blacklist for interface design
The proposal adds ten practices to the list of commercial practices that are banned in all circumstances. The Commission's examples include fake scarcity claims, messages that shame people for declining an offer, and pre-ticked boxes. Separately, the draft treats as misleading a price that grows with fees revealed only at checkout, a misleading "was" price, and a limited-time offer that does not say when it ends.
Some online store themes and marketing plugins do these things by default. A countdown timer that resets on every visit, or a pop-up claiming that several people are viewing a product when nothing is counting them, is the kind of thing the list targets.
Influencers, and the brands that pay them
Influencers would have to clearly disclose paid content. Under the proposal, the brand or agency that commissions the content is responsible for making sure the influencer complies. A business that pays creators to reach European audiences would need that obligation written into the contract.
The draft also restricts personalised ads and prices aimed at minors or built on sensitive data, and gives consumers defined rights when an AI agent buys on their behalf.
Fines tied to global turnover
The Commission would gain the power to fine a company up to 6% of its worldwide annual turnover. That power is reserved for large cases affecting consumers in at least two thirds of member states, and it does not cover small and medium-sized enterprises, which would still answer to national consumer authorities. The Commission estimates the package will save EU consumers up to €13.7 billion a year.
For Israeli businesses the rules reach anyone whose site, ads or checkout is aimed at EU shoppers, whether the business has an office there or not. With at least a year before anything applies, and probably longer, there is time to review the checkout and cancellation flow alongside what selling abroad already requires, such as an invoice in English and checking when zero-rated VAT for a foreign client applies.