Collective Redress In Europe: Developments In Key Jurisdictions—The Netherlands

The Situation: The Netherlands has a comprehensive system for collective actions and the collective settlement of claims but currently, there is no possibility to seek monetary damages in collective actions.

The Developments: A proposed bill introducing a collective damages action was adopted this week by the lower house of the Dutch Parliament. In addition, the European Commission proposed a directive on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers (COM(2018) 184 final), which aims to introduce a European collective redress right for consumers.

The Result: While the introduction of the possibility to claim monetary damages in a collective action poses a risk for defendants, the (proposed) Dutch system, which ensures a high level of finality, strikes a balance between the interests of defendants and aggrieved parties alike.