Leaked EU Digital Fairness Act draft would make paid AI shopping agents ask consumers again before buying

A leaked draft of the EU Digital Fairness Act would require consumers to approve purchases again when an AI shopping agent's provider is paid for proposing a contract or has a conflict involving the merchant, PYMNTS reports, citing an analysis by Barry Scannell of Irish law firm William Fry. Article 26 would otherwise let consumers delegate purchasing decisions under permissions they choose.

At first use, consumers could require approval for every contract, set confirmation criteria such as a maximum price and time limit, or allow purchases without further confirmation. They could change these settings at any time, with their selection recorded on a durable medium.

The draft excludes financial services and says merchants could not require consumers to use automated systems. Article 27 would cover transactions conducted solely by automated systems on both sides, allowing merchants to provide precontractual information in machine-readable form while still sending consumers an intelligible contract confirmation.

The text remains unofficial. A proposal from the European Commission is expected on 11 November.