Brussels, 04/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 4 February, the European Commission reopened the debate on the possibility of allowing collective redress proceedings to be brought by consumers or businesses which feel that they have suffered due to an infringement of EU rules (EUROPE 10235). The Commission has launched a public consultation, to continue until the end of April 2011, to gather the opinions of interested parties and to help it to take position on whether or not there is any need to legislate on collective redress. The consultation (A coherent European approach to collective redress) will conclude with a public hearing. The Commission will then publish a communication to present the results of the consultation.
In recent years, a number of commissioners have started work on draft legislation to make collective redress easier in their fields of competence, but none of this has really come to anything. The former competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, for example, mooted the idea that consumers or SMEs which felt they had been harmed by a cartel formally punished by the EU could come together as a body before justice to seek compensation. But one of the concerns frequently expressed was that this would make the EU system more like the American one, with an avalanche of trials and exorbitant demands. The Commission reiterated its opposition to the introduction of “class actions” (collective redress) into EU legislation along the lines of the American model, stressing the “need for major safeguards to avoid abusive procedures”.
The purpose of the consultation is to create an inventory of common legal principles in the event that the Commission presents an initiative on collective redress (for example, as regards effectiveness and efficiency, information for the citizens and safeguards against abusive legal procedures) and to determine how these principles could be included in the legal order of the Union and in the legal orders of its 27 member states. The notion of collective redress is broad and includes proceedings for injunctive relief (legal actions which seek to put a stop to unlawful behaviour) and proceedings for compensation (proceedings which seek to obtain compensation for damage caused). The situation varies widely across the EU, particularly when a group of individuals or businesses seek to obtain damage with interest before the courts. Although some countries authorise collective redress, others oblige each plaintiff to start individual proceedings.
Viviane Reding has misgivings. Viviane Reding, the European justice commissioner, pointed out that collective redress is a complex issue “which has many advantages and disadvantages”. “We need to know whether there could be any added value if the EU decided to adopt a more harmonised approach to collective redress, or whether we should continue to test various solutions selected by member states in line with their individual legal traditions”, Reding added. “We must not forget that the interests of our citizens are not always best served by resolving legal conflicts before the courts”, the justice commissioner added. She points out that there are other systems to settle disputes, which are “less expensive, faster and more user-friendly”, and the Commission may, in future, lay greater emphasis on these. (L.C/A.N./transl.fl)