2026 No. 259

CONSUMER PROTECTION

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) (Conferral of Functions) Regulations 2026

Made9th March 2026

Coming into force6th April 2026

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 307(1) to (3) and 337(1) of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024¹.

In accordance with sections 307(6) and 337(3) of that Act, a draft of these Regulations has been laid before and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

1 Citation, commencement and extent¶

1 These Regulations may be cited as the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) (Conferral of Functions) Regulations 2026.

2 These Regulations come into force on 6th April 2026.

3 These Regulations extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

2 Interpretation¶

In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024;
“the CTSI” means the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, a company incorporated by Royal Charter with registered number RC000879;
“durable medium” means paper or email, or any other medium that—
1. allows information to be addressed to the recipient;
2. enables the recipient to store the information in a way accessible for future reference for a period that is long enough for the purposes of the information; and
3. allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored.

3 Conferral of functions¶

The exercise of the functions under the following provisions of the Act is conferred on the CTSI—

a section 294(2)(b) (function of approving fees provisions) (but see regulation 4);

b section 296 (functions relating to applications for accreditation or variation of an accreditation) (but see regulations 5 and 6);

c section 297 (functions relating to determination of applications);

d section 298 (functions relating to revocation or suspension of accreditations etc) (but see regulation 7);

e section 299(1) (fees payable by accredited ADR providers), so far as relating to the function of receiving fees;

f section 302 (functions relating to enforcement notices) (but see regulation 8);

g section 304 (functions relating to ADR information directions); and

h section 305 (functions relating to disclosure of ADR information) (but see regulations 9 and 10).

4 Approval of fees provisions¶

When exercising the function of approving provisions for charging fees to consumers under section 294(2)(b) of the Act, the CTSI must—

a require that the information in Schedule 1 is provided by the accredited ADR provider²;

b consider that information before deciding whether to approve the provisions;

c give notice in writing on a durable medium to the accredited ADR provider—

i of its decision; and

ii the reasons for its decision.

5 Application for accreditation¶

When exercising the function of determining the procedure to be followed for an application for accreditation to carry out ADR³ under section 296(6) and (7)(d) of the Act, the CTSI must require that the applicant includes the information in Schedule 2 in their application in relation to—

a the applicant for ADR accreditation; and

b any other person that the applicant for ADR accreditation makes special ADR arrangements⁴ with.

6 Publication of application for accreditation or variation procedures¶

When exercising the function of publishing the procedures to be followed for an application for accreditation and an application for variation of accreditation under section 296(9) of the Act, the CTSI must publish such procedures on its website.

7 Revocation or suspension of accreditation¶

When exercising the function of revoking or suspending an accreditation to carry out ADR under section 298(2), (4)(b) or (4)(c) of the Act, the CTSI must—

a require that the information in Schedule 3 is provided by the ADR provider⁵ in relation to—

i the ADR provider; and

ii any other person that the ADR provider makes special ADR arrangements with; and

b in relation to functions under section 298(4)(b) or (c), inform the Secretary of State in writing on a durable medium of any ADR provider that the CTSI considers meets one or more of the conditions in section 298(3) of the Act.

8 Publication of enforcement notices¶

Before exercising the function of publishing information about enforcement notices under section 302(9) of the Act, the CTSI must have regard to the benefit of publishing information concerning systemic issues or other issues of public interest.

9 Disclosure of ADR information¶

When exercising the function of publishing information for the purpose of providing information to consumers under section 305(2) of the Act, the CTSI must—

a include the information in Schedule 2 in respect of—

i each accredited ADR provider; and

ii each exempt ADR provider⁶; and

b publish such information on its website.

10 Duty to provide reports¶

1 The CTSI must prepare—

a a report (“the quarterly report”) containing the information in Schedule 4 relating to each calendar quarter;

b a report (“the end of year report”) containing the information in Schedule 4 relating to each financial year.

2 The quarterly report must be provided no later than two weeks after the end of each calendar quarter to the Secretary of State in writing on a durable medium.

3 The end of year report must be provided no later than four weeks after the end of each financial year to—

a the Secretary of State in writing on a durable medium; and

b consumers, by publication on the CTSI’s website.

4 In this regulation—

“calendar quarter” means each of the following periods in any year—
1. 1st January to 31st March;
2. 1st April to 30th June;
3. 1st July to 30th September;
4. 1st October to 31st December;
“financial year” means—
1. the period beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force and ending with 31st March in the following year; and
2. each successive period of 12 months beginning with 1st April and ending with 31st March in the following year.

Schedule 1 ¶

Approval of fees provisions

Regulation 4

1 The information required by regulation 4 is—

a the proposed fee;

b the reasons for charging fees to consumers;

c an explanation of how the revenue from fees will be used; and

d proposed mitigating actions or circumstances that ensure charging fees—

i improves the availability of ADR services for consumers; and

ii does not deter access to its ADR services.

Schedule 2 ¶

Application for accreditation and disclosure of ADR information

Regulations 5 and 9

1 The information required by regulations 5 and 9 is—

a the name, contact details and website address of the ADR provider;

b the kinds of ADR carried out, including the possible outcomes of each kind;

c the types of consumer contract disputes the ADR provider deals with;

d the sectors and categories of consumer contract disputes covered by the ADR provider;

e the procedures, rules, requirements or practices relating to the carrying out of ADR, including—

i any time limits for referring disputes for ADR;

ii any conditions or other requirements to be met by either (or both) of the parties before, or while, ADR is being carried out; and

iii whether ADR can be conducted orally or in writing;

f the fees or costs payable by either party to a consumer contract dispute that is referred for ADR;

g the language in which consumer contract disputes can be submitted to the ADR provider and in which ADR can be carried out;

h whether the outcome of ADR is binding;

i the grounds on which the ADR provider may refuse to deal with a given consumer contract dispute; and

j the process for handling complaints.

Schedule 3 ¶

Revocation or suspension of accreditation

Regulation 7

1 Information¶

The information required by regulation 7 is—

a the details of any outstanding ADR processes;

b an estimation of the period of time needed to finalise or transfer to another ADR provider any outstanding ADR process;

c where an outstanding ADR process is being transferred to another ADR provider, the name, contact details and website address of that other ADR provider; and

d a forwarding address for invoicing any outstanding fees payable to the CTSI.

2 Interpretation¶

In this Schedule—

“outstanding ADR process” means a consumer contract dispute accepted by the ADR provider for carrying out ADR where—
1. a final determination has not been reached; or
2. a determination may be subject to appeal, decisions or settlement as part of the ADR process.

Schedule 4 ¶

Information for reports

Regulation 10

1 The information that must be provided in the reports required by regulation 10 is—

a in relation to approval of provisions to charge fees to consumers under section 294(2)(b) of the Act—

i the number of requests received from accredited ADR providers;

ii the number of such requests that were approved or rejected; and

iii an outline of the reasons considered in approving or rejecting such requests;

b the number of ADR providers that have applied for accreditation and, in accordance with section 297(2)(b), have been—

i granted the accreditation applied for;

ii granted a more limited accreditation; and

iii refused the application;

c the number of ADR providers that have applied for variation of accreditation and, in accordance with section 297(8)(b), have been—

i granted the application;

ii granted a variation of accreditation, but to a different extent than applied for; and

iii refused the application;

d the average period of time taken for determinations of—

i accreditation under section 297 of the Act, calculated from the date of application under section 296(1) of the Act to the date a notice is given under section 297(2)(c) of the Act; and

ii variations of accreditation under section 297 of the Act, calculated from the date of application under section 296(4) of the Act to the date a notice is given under section 297(8)(c) of the Act;

e the average amount of fees paid—

i for accreditation, under section 296(1)(b) of the Act;

ii for variation of accreditation, under section 296(5) of the Act; and

iii by accredited ADR providers, under section 299(1) of the Act;

f the number of revocations of accreditation made under section 298(2) and (4)(c) of the Act;

g in respect of revocations of accreditation made under section 298(4)(c) of the Act, details of the conditions under section 298(3) that the CTSI considers have been met in each case;

h an evaluation of the operation of the system of accreditation under Chapter 4 of Part 4 of the Act based on information gathered from, and feedback received in relation to, the exercise of functions conferred under these Regulations and regulations made under section 303 of the Act;

i an evaluation of the provision and quality of ADR carried out in the United Kingdom based on information gathered from, and feedback received in relation to, the exercise of functions conferred under these Regulations and regulations under section 303 of the Act;

j any other information that the CTSI considers relevant for the purpose of—

i providing information to consumers;

ii monitoring or evaluation of the operation of the system of accreditation under Chapter 4 of Part 4 of the Act; and

iii monitoring or evaluation of the provision and quality of ADR carried out in the United Kingdom.

Explanatory Note¶

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations confer functions on the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (“the CTSI”) in relation to alternative dispute resolution for consumer contract disputes under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (c. 13) (“the Act”), and make provisions in connection with the conferral of those functions.

Regulation 3 sets out the functions conferred on the CTSI.

Regulation 4 provides that the information in Schedule 1 must be required from ADR providers who seek approval to charge fees to consumers. The CTSI is required to consider this information when making a decision, and give notice to the ADR provider of its decision and the reasons for the decision.

Regulation 5 provides that the information in Schedule 2 must be required from applicants for ADR accreditation.

Regulation 6 provides that the procedures for accreditation and variation of accreditation are to be published on the CTSI’s website.

Regulation 7 provides that the information in Schedule 3 must be required from ADR providers when considering a revocation or suspension of accreditation. Regulation 7 also requires the CTSI to inform the Secretary of State of any ADR provider who meets one or more of the conditions in section 298(3) of the Act which may lead to a decision to suspend or revoke accreditation.

Regulation 8 requires the CTSI to have regard to the benefit of publishing information concerning systemic or other issues of public interest before publishing information on enforcement notices given to ADR providers.

Regulation 9 provides that the information in Schedule 2 must be published on the CTSI’s website.

Regulation 10 provides that the information in Schedule 4 must be provided to the Secretary of State quarterly, in the form of a quarterly report, and annually, in the form of an end of year report. Regulation 10 also provides that end of year reports must be published on the CTSI’s website.

An impact assessment has not been produced for these Regulations as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen. An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Footnotes

1
2024 c. 13.
2
See section 291(10) of the Act for the definition of “accredited ADR provider”.
3
See section 291(2) to (5) of the Act for the definition of “ADR”.
4
See section 291(7) of the Act for the definition of “special ADR arrangements”.
5
See section 291(6) of the Act for the definition of “ADR provider”.
6
See section 295(1) of the Act for the definition of “exempt ADR provider”.