Brussels, 27/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 27 November, the European Commission launched a public consultation exercise on the usefulness of and arrangements for a possible European system of Consumer Collective Redress, which would facilitate redress in situations where large numbers of consumers have been harmed by a single trader's practice which is in breach of consumer law, at reasonable cost and particularly in cross-border disputes. Presenting the Green Paper to the press, Consumer Protection Commissioner Maglena Kuneva highlighted the usefulness of removing this legal gap which makes rights “theoretical” in illegal activities “such as overcharging, misleading advertising or outright scams” because of fragmented, or even inexistent, national laws, and the many obstacles which discourage consumers from obtaining their rights - difficulties of access to means of redress, length of time, cost, and the ineffectiveness of procedures.
“One out of five European consumers will not go to court for less than €1000. Half say they will not go to court for less than €200. If they had the opportunity to join with other people, 76% of consumers would be more ready to take matters to court,” the Commissioner said. While all options were open, there was no question, Kuneva stated, of importing the American system of “class actions” into the EU since “it's not about encouraging lawyers to go looking for customers for their own gain. We simply want consumers to have faith in the law and in the market and to be compensated”.
Along the lines of the March 2007 communication on European strategy aimed at strengthening consumer confidence in the internal market, the Green Paper on consumer collective redress will allow all points of view from the various parties interested regarding the four scenarios envisaged by the Commission to be collected by early March 2009. The four scenarios are: 1) status quo, i.e. no immediate action; 2) cooperation between member states with a view to opening collective redress mechanisms available to 13 member states up to consumers of the 14 member states that do not have such mechanisms; 3) a combination of instruments aimed at strengthening means for consumer redress; and 4) measures - binding or not - aimed at ensuring a legal collective redress mechanism exists in all member states.
According to the European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC), the European Commission practices the art of going round in circles. After a great deal of consultation, the difficulties encountered by consumers to access justice and the advantages and inconveniences of consumer collective redress have been known for many years, BEUC says. It goes on to say it is high time the Commission assumed its political responsibilities and made a choice, believing that only action by a European group in the form of a binding instrument can allow many consumers to bring a matter to justice in order to receive compensation for damage caused by a single trader. (A.N./transl.rt/jl)