The Situation: Negotiators for the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (the "Council") have reached an agreement on new European rules on collective consumer action. The Council has thus published a...more
The Situation: Spain currently has a system that allows the filing of collective actions but it has not been employed frequently to date, and most consumer-related issues are still litigated on an individual...more
The Situation: Belgian class actions are currently available to consumers, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises ("SMEs") seeking damages from businesses for violations of a number of EU and Belgian...more
The Situation: Under the new Italian framework, class actions will no longer be limited to consumer protection matters, and collective redress may be sought through simplified proceedings.
The Developments: A recently...more
The Situation: In 2018, Germany introduced a model declaratory action giving qualified institutions the right to raise liability claims on behalf of groups of consumers in a representative action. Once the court has issued a...more
The Situation: The German Parliament has approved the Act on Model Declaratory Proceedings ("Act"), which introduces, for the first time, class action-style litigation for consumer claims.
The Plan: The Act will give...more
7/5/2018
/ Class Action ,
Collective Actions ,
Collective Redress ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Germany ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Member State ,
New Legislation ,
Settlement Offer
The Situation: Currently, European law provides only for representative actions to stop or prohibit infringements of EU consumer law, but not for collective redress. As a result, significant differences exist in the...more
6/13/2018
/ Class Action ,
Collective Redress ,
Consumer Protection Laws ,
Cross-Border ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Member State ,
Proposed Legislation
The Situation: As agreed in the Coalition Contract of the current German government, the Federal Ministry of Justice officially presented the Act on Model Declaratory Proceedings ("Draft Act") on May 9, 2018, after protracted...more
A proposal released by the European Commission for tightening consumer protection regulations in the European Union includes an expansion of both class actions and enforcement powers. The proposal, titled "The New Deal for...more
The Situation: On January 31, 2018, the Italian Supreme Court ruled on the first Italian product-related class action promoted by a consumers' association.
The Result: The Court upheld the consumer's class action claim...more