Andrew Jeffries, Apr 29, 2011
The European Commission launched in February 2011 another consultation on proposals for collective redress. This is open to April 30, 2011, and takes the form of 34 open-ended questions.
This is the latest in a long-running and tortuous attempt by the Commission to develop European collective redress, in particular in the fields of consumer protection and competition law, which has so far produced nothing concrete. Is the whole process simply lost in consultation? We consider this below. The EU uses the term “collective redress” to cover court-based procedural mechanisms which enable mass litigants to band together-usually claimants-to bring one case where there are common themes and issues. This is otherwise more commonly known as a class action.
