Project Overview
The LCO’s Improving Consumer Protection in the Digital Marketplace: Final Report is the first independent, comprehensive review of Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act in over 20 years. The project examines how Ontario’s consumer protection laws should evolve to address new risks in the digital economy—particularly those arising from online terms of service (ToS) contracts for digital products and services.
The review explores how to modernize traditional safeguards—like notice and disclosure rules, protections against deception and unconscionability, and consumer enforcement mechanisms—to reflect today’s complex digital marketplace.
In December 2023, Ontario enacted the Consumer Protection Act, 2023 (CPA 2023), replacing the 2002 legislation. The new Act reflects several recommendations from the LCO’s Consumer Protection: Consultation Report (June 2023). The LCO has also made several submissions regarding regulations under the new Act, several of which were adopted.
Advisory Committee
The Advisory Committee members were:
- Dan Edmondstone – McMillan LLP, and the Ontario Bar Association Business Law Section
- Jack Enman-Beech – Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
- David Fewer – General Counsel, CIPPIC
- Florencia Marotta-Wurgler – New York University School of Law
- Alexandra Mogyoros – Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Marina Pavlovic – Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
- Michael Tamblyn – CEO, Rakuten Kobo, and LCO Board Member
Key Recommendations
The LCO’s 32 recommendations aim to strengthen CPA 2023 so it better protects Ontarians in the digital marketplace.
1. Strengthen digital contracting rights (Recommendations 1–15)
- Create a clear legal framework for online consumer transactions.
- Eliminate monetary thresholds so all consumers are protected.
- Require simpler, up-front “key information” disclosures about risks and choices.
- Ban deceptive, unfair, or coercive online practices, including “dark patterns.”
- Introduce a duty of good faith and clear limits on unilateral contract changes.
2. Protect vulnerable consumers (Recommendations 16–23)
- Mandate plain language in consumer contracts.
- Recognize failure to accommodate as an unconscionable practice.
- Adopt an age-appropriate design code for youth online.
- Prohibit exploitation of consumers based on age or vulnerability.
3. Improve enforcement and access to justice (Recommendations 24–32)
- Expand systemic investigations and consent agreements with penalties.
- Set minimum standards for handling consumer complaints.
- Introduce sliding-scale fines proportionate to business size and higher maximum penalties.
- Enable disgorgement and statutory damages.
- Explore a consumer assistance organization and a public terms of service registry.
The full list of recommendations is available in Appendix A of the Final Report and Executive Summary.