The EU's Leaked Draft List of Ten Prohibited Design Tricks, Row by Row

Ten short entries in a leaked EU draft describe a checkout screen in legal language. They cover claims that a product is running out or selling fast, boxes that are already ticked, a no button framed as the wrong choice, and cancelling or changing your mind that takes disproportionately more steps. Neurowired, which published the entries, places them in Annex I of the draft Digital Fairness Act as points 53 to 62. Agence Europe saw the draft text on 9 November and reports that it prohibits 10 dark patterns. Techround reports that the rules would apply 12 months after the law enters into force, and not before the end of 2028 at the earliest.

None of this is law. Three caveats before you quote any row of it:

1. Neurowired describes the draft as leaked and unofficial, and says it is marked sensitive until adoption.
2. Hogan Lovells calls the leaked text preliminary and says it may change before it is officially published.
3. Hogan Lovells also reports that the draft would let the Commission amend the list of banned dark patterns later, through delegated acts.

So the list could change before adoption, and after it too.

Points 53 to 62 in plain words

Techround reports that practices on the blacklist would be unfair in all circumstances. Hogan Lovells reports that the draft would repeal the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the EU's current law on unfair commercial practices.

The plain-words summaries and the short quotes are based on Neurowired's extract of the leaked draft.

How the ten sort at a checkout

The draft doesn't group the ten. Read against a booking screen, they fall into four rough groups.

Pressure. Point 53 covers false claims about availability or popularity. Point 54 is a separate entry. In Neurowired's extract it is about keeping such statements on screen throughout the ordering process. Point 61 covers notifications that falsely suggest something about another consumer. Techround uses scarcity alerts as one example of what the act targets.

Steering. Point 55 is the pre-selected default you have to reject yourself. Point 56 is the decline option presented as the wrong choice, whether you are turning down a purchase or turning down the continued supply of a product. Point 57 is the false impression that the prominently featured option is your only one. Point 59 is misleading or ambiguous wording on the choices themselves.

Wearing you down. Point 58 covers asking you, again and again, to make a choice or change it after you've already made it. Point 62 covers making it take disproportionately more steps to refuse, withdraw or change a choice. Separately from the blacklist, Hogan Lovells reports a requirement to offer an online contract termination facility. Techround's example is a cancel button worded along the lines of "terminate the contract here".

The price. Point 60 deals with how the price is presented and, where relevant, the contract's duration and its automatic renewal. It is the only one of the ten that names the price.

At the booking screen, before any of this applies

None of the ten apply yet. Until they do, one line each:

1. Untick any box you didn't tick yourself (the draft's point 55).
2. Read the wording on both buttons before you press either one.
3. Treat a scarcity banner as a reason to slow down, not speed up.
4. Find the price, the contract length and the renewal terms before you pay.
5. Find the cancel option before you subscribe, not after.
6. Take a screenshot of the checkout if something looks off.

None of this needs a law. It just needs the patience to read the small grey link next to the big button.

Fines in the draft

Agence Europe's figures come from the text it saw on 9 November. Hogan Lovells says the leaked text may change, so these figures could change with it.

From leak to application

1. 9 November: Agence Europe sees the draft text.
2. Agence Europe reported the proposal as due on Wednesday, without giving a date.
3. The proposal then goes to the European Parliament and the Council, according to Hogan Lovells.
4. Adoption and entry into force: no date known.
5. Application: 12 months after entry into force, according to Techround.
6. Earliest the rules could apply: the end of 2028, according to Techround.

Still open

• The published proposal was not available at the time of writing, so any differences between it and the leak are unknown.
• Information on which of the ten the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive already covers was not available at the time of writing.
• Dates for adoption and entry into force are unknown.
• Whether the Commission will use delegated acts to change the list, and when, is unknown.