Collective Actions in the European Union: History of Development and Modern Regulation

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to the history of collective actions in the law of the European Union and to the current situation in this matter by embracing its major sources of regulation, which are in force. Analysing the way of development from law projects to current directives, the author concludes that the position of collective action is strengthening in the system of European law, its possibilities are widening significantly. Meanwhile, collective action in the EU has unique traits, which take into consideration legal traditions of the Member-states. Final documents, which were adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, are assessed positively, meanwhile the author notes that there are bases for criticising them and that they are not impeccable. As positive traits of collective procedure of the EU the author remarks that they respond to the European legal order, real possibilities of the Member-states. Highly progressive steps in the European law on consumer protection were taken by the implementation of redress measures, flexible choice of the system of group formation for the Member-states, improved mechanisms of notification and registration by IT-technologies. The author criticises the organisational form of collective action, adopted in the EU and notes that the problem of parallel proceedings remained ultimately unsolved. In the final part of the article the procedure of implementation of the latest Directive of the EU on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers in Germany is analysed. It is concluded that approaches to collective redress in the EU have some value in the development of the group action in the EAEU, since class action litigation is not regulated in that union, but the need in such a procedure (for instance in consumer cases) is undisputed.