Compliance advice for trader recommendation platforms

The Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) purpose is to help people, businesses and the UK economy by protecting competition and tackling unfair behaviour.

Compliance advice for trader recommendation platforms

The CMA is consulting on draft consumer law compliance advice for trader recommendation platforms.

These are businesses that:

• operate a website or app that consumers may use to find a trader to carry out home improvement, maintenance, or repair work
• make representations or impressions that the traders listed or hosted on these sites are of a particular quality

The purpose of the compliance advice is to help relevant businesses to understand and comply with their obligations under consumer protection law.

The draft compliance advice sets out important principles for trader recommendation platforms in relation to:

1. representations to consumers
2. vetting practices
3. complaints process
4. monitoring activities
5. approach to investigations and sanctions
6. approach to the collection, moderation and publication of consumer reviews

We have produced this draft compliance advice in partnership with 4 key consumer organisations – National Trading Standards, Trading Standards Scotland, The Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland, and Northern Ireland Trading Standards – following concerns we identified about some businesses in this sector.

We want to hear from you

It's important we hear from a range of stakeholders, this might include:

• businesses which operate a website, app, list or host traders for UK consumers to use to find a trader to carry out home improvement, maintenance, or repair work
• trade bodies and other representative bodies of businesses that carry out home improvement, maintenance, or repair work
• standards bodies which set and/or monitor business compliance with quality and consumer protection standards in the home improvement, maintenance, and repair sector, including certification schemes, registration schemes and approved Consumer Codes
• consumer advisers and consumer representative bodies and charities
• fellow enforcers of consumer protection law (including local authority Trading Standards Services), regulators and government departments

Responding to our consultation

Please email your response to trp@cma.gov.uk by 5pm on 16 August 2024. You can also contact us with any queries regarding the consultation using this email address.

Your personal data

When handling personal data (like contact details), we comply with data protection law, as set out in the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and other law designed to protect sensitive information.

Please see our Personal Information Charter for more information about:

• our statutory functions
• how we process personal data
• your rights relating to that personal data (including your right to complain)

Section 4 of the consultation document (which you can find in the document section on this webpage) provides more information.