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Fragmenting Consumer Law Through Data Protection and Digital Market Regulations: The DMA, the DSA, the GDPR, and EU Consumer Law

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  • F. Elizalde

    (IE University
    Koç University)

Abstract

The paper assesses the impact of EU digital legislation on general consumer law. To that end, it addresses the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act in their interaction with the General Data Protection Regulation, as the legal instruments of economic characteristics that seem to confront consumer law more straightforwardly. The main claim that the paper makes is that they fragment consumer law by altering its bases and affecting its principal horizontal provisions, namely, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD, 2005) and the Unfair Contract Terms Directive (UCTD, 1993). The transformation arises from the assumption, by the digital regulations, of the competition concern for market structure and business size while ignoring the nuances among the users of digital services. The societal aims of the EU’s digital policy are also relevant, particularly those concerning personal data. Overall, the digital laws frame a regulation of private relationships that does not pivot on consumption while affecting consumers. Consumer law could be gradually giving way to EU digital private law.

Suggested Citation

  • F. Elizalde, 2025. "Fragmenting Consumer Law Through Data Protection and Digital Market Regulations: The DMA, the DSA, the GDPR, and EU Consumer Law," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 355-389, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jcopol:v:48:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10603-025-09584-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10603-025-09584-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Konstantina Bania, 2023. "Fitting the Digital Markets Act in the existing legal framework: the myth of the “without prejudice” clause," European Competition Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 116-149, January.
    2. J. Ouyang, 2024. "“Embedded Consumer”: Towards a Constitutional Reframing of the Legal Image of Consumers in EU law," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 395-423, September.
    3. Costa-Cabral, Francisco & Lynskey, Orla, 2017. "Family ties: the intersection between data protection and competition in EU Law," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68470, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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