Brussels, 01/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The United States Chamber of Commerce and its Institute for Legal Reform, a group of business representatives, sent a letter on 29 January 2013 to Commissioner Viviane Reding about changes to data protection rules, fearing class action legal cases in the United States which is says are under discussion. The ILR says class action cases are ineffective and subject to abuse, stating in the letter that they often only aim at winning large sums of compensation rather than justice. Some articles in the EU regulation, says the ILR, would open the door to virtually unlimited numbers of appeals by third parties, lawyers for example, and European Parliament rapporteur Jan Philip Albrecht (Greens/EFA, Germany) has himself paved the way for class action or individual appeals for damage and interest, says ILR, concerned about the prospect of EU-wide appeals cases. The European Commission is taking a cautious approach, not mentioning the question of damages, but the ILR says the draft report by Albrecht, if endorsed in its current format, could well undermine the Commission's assurances. On Friday, the European Commission commented that US-style class action is not foreseen in the draft legislation at present because consumer organisation already have the option of taking cases to court.
“We have not introduced a 'compensatory' right to collective redress,' explained Mina Andreeva, a spokesperson for Commissioner Reding, adding: “We are rather seeking 'injunctive' redress possibilities - that is the associations would be able to ask the Court to rule on a practice and stop this practice (for example asking Google Street View to stop taking pictures of individuals).' (SP/transl.fl)