The landscape
Italy has traditionally offered limited scope for
collective actions to protect consumers.
Initial recourse under the Italian Consumer Code was followed in
2019 with separate amendments to the Civil Procedure Code, allowing
for publicly registered organisations and associations to bring
class actions to protect the rights of comparable groups of
inpiduals.
This so-called Class Action Reform widened the scope of class
actions beyond consumers. However, adoption of the system was low
due to complex rules, high costs incurred by claimants and
inadequate incentives for law firms to take on group claims.
More recently, Italy's framework for class actions has
expanded significantly with the adoption of Legislative Decree
28/2023. This amends the Italian Consumer Code to implement the
European Union (EU) Directive on representative actions. Already,
it is clear that this development represents a substantial step
forward for the rights of plaintiffs,
