Guidance

Unfair contract terms

Guidance to help businesses make sure their contract terms and notices are fair and transparent to consumers.

• From: Competition and Markets Authority
• Published: 31 July 2015
• Last updated: 22 July 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 22 July 2026

     Guidance updated following consultation.

  2. 22 January 2026

     Consultation on draft revised guidance published.

  3. 22 October 2025

     Update published about refreshing this guidance.

  4. 31 July 2015

     First published.

Documents

Unfair contract terms guidance

Ref: CMA37

PDF, 1.19 MB, 134 pages

Technical note

PDF, 297 KB, 14 pages

Examples from historic OFT unfair contract terms enforcement

HTML

Details

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets out the law on the use of unfair contract terms in consumer contracts.

This guidance for businesses will help you to understand what makes terms and notices unfair, and what the risks are if you use unfair terms. It gives advice about how you can make sure contract terms and notices are fair and transparent.

We also have a short guide to writing a fair contract for customers.