Earlier this year, the Commission Staff of the European Union issued a Staff Working Document seeking public comment on the topic "Towards a Coherent European Approach to Collective Redress."
In an individual capacity, your humble blogger joined some other lawyers in providing comments recently.
As readers of MassTortDefense may know, collective redress -- aggregate litigation -- is not a novel concept in the European Union. Existing EU legislation and international agreements require Member States to provide for collective injunctive relief in certain areas. All Member States have procedures in place which grant the possibility of certain injunctive relief to enjoin some allegedly illegal practices. In the area of consumer law, as a result of the Directive on Injunctions, consumer protection authorities and consumer organizations have standing to seek an injunction regarding practices that allegedly breach national and EU consumer protection rules in all Member States. In the area of environmental law, the Aarhus Convention requires Member States to ensure access to justice against infringements of environmental standards. All Member States have implemented this by introducing some form of collective injunctive relief, whereby non-governmental organizations are given standing to challenge certain environmental administrative decisions.
Please see full publication below for more information.