EU urges collective redress for consumers

(BRUSSELS) - The European Commission on Thursday urged EU nations to make it easier for consumers to group their complaints in court when they get ripped off but insisted US-style class action suits were not answer.

"Commercial malpractice affecting multiple consumers often goes unsolved," EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva told journalists in Brussels.

"The picture is that the current systems for redress are not working as well as they should," she said.

Although consumers can always go to court when they consider they have been cheated or abused, they often face considerable barriers such as high costs and lengthy and complicated procedures, she said.

On top of that, only 13 out of the EU's 27 member countries have judicial procedures to handle collective redress, where consumers' cases are grouped together, which reduces their costs.

Launching a three-month consultation with interested parties, Kuneva said Europe should consider a range of improvements, including the possibility of EU rules requiring all states to have collective redress procedures.

However, she said that "not in any way" was she proposing that Europe follow in the footseps of the United States and open the way for collective class action suits for damages.

"We are not going to go down that road. We are not seeking to import a US-style class system into Europe," she said.

The BEUC European consumers association criticised Kuneva's proposals as "disappointing," arguing that now was the time to come up with a single proposal for action rather than seek more opinions on a range of possibilities.

"The difficulties for consumers to access justice and the pros and cons of collective consumer redress have been well known for many years, and now it is time to take political responsibilities and make choices," it said in a statement.

"In our view an EU group action procedure as a binding instrument is the only way to allow a number of consumers to bring a case together before the court to obtain compensation for a damage caused by the same trader," it added.

Consumer Collective Redress - briefing