With the transposition of the EU Directive on
representative actions into the German
national law, a true class action will for
the first time be added to Germany's litigation landscape.
The introduction of the “redress action”
(“Abhilfeklage”) poses an increased risk to
companies of having to go to great lengths to defend themselves
against claims by consumer protection associations.
The German Consumer Rights Enforcement Act
(Verbraucherrechtedurchsetzungsgesetz - Gesetz zur
gebündelten Durchsetzung von
Verbraucherrechten – VDuG) (BGBl I No. 272/2023)
transposes the EU Directive on representative actions (EU Directive
2020/1828) into German civil procedural law. Accordingly, consumers
in Germany will be able to bring collective claims against
companies pursuant to section 1 (1) no. 1 VDuG. The
redress action will enable associations to claim damages or
remedies such as repair, contract termination, price reduction or a
refund of the purchase price (section 14
