Clifford Chance
Collective Actions in Europe
18 September 2013
This publication updates our briefing of June 2010 on Collective Actions in Europe, and looks at how the rules for "class actions" in key EU jurisdictions have changed since that briefing, current proposals to develop them further and other emerging trends. The separate country sections explain developments in each country in more detail, while this section provides an overview of the EU regime. An explanation of certain features of the US class action system appears in the Appendix.
Overall, developments mean that forms of class action have found their way to Europe. They are not US-style class actions, criticised by so many for perceived excesses and inefficiencies, but a variety of different mechanisms designed to offer more effective redress for mass claims.
