Collective Redress Study for the European Commission

Collective Redress Study for the European Commission

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), in a research consortium with Civic Consulting and Risk & Policy Analysts (RPA), and supported by the Office for Economic Policy and Regional Development (EPRD), has undertaken a study for the European Commission analysing the state of collective redress in the European Union in context of the implementation of the Commission Recommendation (2013/396/EU) on common principles for injunctive and compensatory collective redress mechanisms in the Member States.

According to the Recommendation, Member States should have collective redress mechanisms available to achieve EU policy objectives such as better enforcement of European Union law, protection of consumers, improvement of access to justice, better efficiency of justice systems, avoidance of abusive litigation and an effective right to compensation. The Recommendation provided for its implementation by July 2015 and for a reassessment of the collective redress landscape across the EU by 2017.

The study carries out a first assessment and its output assisted the Commission in evaluating if the Recommendation has led to the introduction or development of efficient collective redress regimes in the Members States; whether these regimes coherently take into account the principles set out by the Recommendation; and whether the Recommendation has achieved its policy goals.

The study consists in

• a legal study presenting national reports covering each of the 28 EU Member States.
• an empirical study, consisting of a short country overview for each jurisdiction, followed by the empirical findings per country which are based on qualitative interviews and an online survey which was distributed amongst stakeholders with relevant experience in the area of mass claims in each Member State.
• a comparative table summarising the legal issues and practical problems with the Recommendation across all Member States.
• a synthesis report summarising the legal and empirical findings across all Member States for each principle of the Commission Recommendation on Collective Redress.

Study on the State of Collective Redress in the EU in the Context of the Implementation of the Commission Recommendation