The Commission has been examining the problems that consumers face in obtaining effective redress. One problem which it has identified is that EU consumers who have small or scattered claims refrain from bringing an individual court action because the cost of bringing the action is likely to outweigh the amount of damages claimed.

Collective redress, both judicial and non-judicial, could be a means of addressing this problem.

In its Consumer Policy Strategy for 2007-2013the Commission underlined the importance of effective mechanisms for seeking redress and announced that it would consider action on collective redress mechanisms for consumers.

The Leuven brainstorming event

The Commission organised a brainstorming event on collective redress in Leuven on 29 June 2007. Representatives of all stakeholders discussed the advantages, disadvantages and underlying problems of collective redress schemes currently in place in the Member States, as well as the likely consequences of a possible collective redress mechanism at EU-level.

Summary of the Leuven Event

Speech of Commissioner Kuneva

Contribution by panellist Prof. Jules Stuyck, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Contribution by panellist Patrick von Braunmühl, Deputy Executive Director, Federation of German Consumer Organizations

Contribution by panellist Henrik Øe, the Danish Consumer Ombudsman

Reflection period on collective redress

The Leuven brainstorming event marked the beginning of a reflection period on collective redress. All stakeholders and interested parties are invited to send their views and experiences on the issue of collective redress to the following address:

Sanco-consumer-collective-redress@ec.europa.eu

Studies relating to collective redress

The study on alternative means of consumer redress other than redress through ordinary judicial proceedings

The University of Leuven has conducted a study on alternative means of consumer redress other than redress through ordinary judicial proceedings. The study includes an overview of the national legal provisions on collective redress.

Comparative report

28 national reports

The evaluation study

The Commission has also launched a new study focusing specifically on collective redress in the EU. That study will evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of existing collective redress mechanisms and assess whether consumers suffer a detriment in those Member States where collective redress mechanisms are not available. It will also examine the existence of negative effects for the Single Market and distortions of competition.

The contract notice can be found here.

The way forward

The Commission will use the results of these studies as well as the information provided by stakeholders and interested parties in order to decide whether, and if so, to which extent, an initiative on collective redress is required at EU level.