The European Commission (the
"Commission") has published a draft
Directive1 which, if implemented, would
introduce, for the first time in Ireland, a style of class action
litigation by consumers against corporates. This would increase
litigation risk in Ireland for industry sectors which are subject
to EU regulation in areas such as product liability, data
protection, financial services, travel and tourism, energy,
telecommunications and environment. The draft Directive forms part
of a wider legislative package which is referred to as 'A New
Deal for Consumers'.
Representative action, the European way
The draft Directive proposes a new type of
'representative action, the European way'. This
would allow a 'qualified entity' take a
representative action before a member state Court on behalf of a
group of consumers who have been affected by a breach of consumer
protection laws to seek redress for the affected group. The
consumers concerned would not be parties to
