Wednesday 25 May 2011

One for all, all for one! A new chapter in collective redress?


Collective redress continues to be a hot topic on the European agenda. We posted earlier about the consultation of the European Commission on “Towards a more coherent European approach to collective redress”, the consultation paper for which can be found here.

The responses to the consultation have now been published online. A wide range of stakeholders has taken the opportunity to respond, which should give the Commission a good basis for further decision making in this area. Academically, one of the most comprehensive responses comes from the team of Chris Hodges based at the University of Oxford. From the Netherlands, a response has been submitted from Tilburg University, written by Thijs Bosters, Ianika Tzankova, and myself.

Should there be an initiative for a European collective redress regime? It seems timely to open a new chapter in this area. An individual consumer stands small against the ‘big fish’ in the EU retail market (see also an earlier post on this blog). New legislation can help. The ball is now in the Commission’s court…