Yesterday, European Voice published a short note (by Simon Taylor) that talks on group compensation are to resume. Collective redress had been a hot topic in European Commission in the past few years, since it should guarantee consumers to start actions for compensations against companies that might cause no or little loss to an individual consumer while harming significantly consumer interests as a whole. Naturally, the plans of regulating collective redress on EU level have been strongly opposed by the business representatives in Brussels. Now, it has been announced that next week the European Commission will re-open a debate on EU legislation that would allow collectives of consumers to seek compensation from companies found guilty of anti-competitive practices (e.g. price fixing). On 12 October commissioners will hold an orientation debate on whether any action should be taken at EU level. The existing solutions for collective redress actions on national level will be discussed. If commissioners agree to further regulate these actions, public consultation will be launched.
