Political agreement reached on the Directive on Representative Actions

Following the political agreement between the co-legislators, the Council endorsed on June 30^th a provisional agreement on EU-wide rules for the protection of collective interest of consumers. The official version is now also available on the Council register here.

We recognize this agreement on the Directive on Representative actions is regarded politically as an important step for the protection of consumers’ rights across the EU. Once implemented, it remains to be seen whether the proposed directive is able to live up to the expectations of policy makers towards empowering consumers and creating a level-playing field for collective redress in the EU. While some of our main advocacy points are reflected in the proposal to a certain extent, some of our core issues remain unsolved. The handling of cross-border effects and clarification of cross-border procedures remain points of concern.

We can expect the implementation period to begin at the earliest in autumn, depending on the speed of the process. Member States will have a 24 months period to adopt and publish laws, regulations as well as any administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Directive, followed by a 6 months period in which to apply those provisions.

The transposition phase will be the next crucial stage for us to engage in, and EJF is working on a monitoring framework to keep a close eye on national developments. This will be an opportunity to assess the risks and opportunities that may arise at national level during the transposition of the directive as well as to capture trends and any issues linked to collective redress mechanisms from a holistic view, in order to give feedback to the relevant EU institutions and decision makers on the effectiveness of EU regulation.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to know more.