Collective redress

After more than 30 years of campaigning from consumer groups, a landmark piece of legislation - the EU’s Representative Actions Directive – became a reality in summer 2023. It will allow consumers to go to court as a group when they have suffered the same harm.

This law means that consumers who have bought, for example, the same defective washing machine or were overcharged by their telecoms provider and the trader refuses to remedy the problem, can now go to court collectively to seek justice.

This is a significant improvement, as collective redress did not previously exist in most EU countries. This meant consumers had to go to court individually, meaning extra time and expense, which usually resulted in consumers abandoning their chances for redress.

This issue came to a head during the Dieselgate scandal. When consumers across the continent bought cars unaware that they were equipped with emissions-test cheating devices, only consumers in certain countries (which allowed collective redress) could seek justice. This was in stark contrast to the US, where Volkswagen quickly paid compensation due to the threat of class actions.

It is now up to the Member States to transpose the Directive into their national legislations. This step will be key for the success of the directive as the EU legislation gives some leeway when transposing the rules.