Today, 8th of July, the EU Commission released the 2021 EU Justice Scoreboard (here). The Scoreboard is a comparative information tool, and it presents an annual overview of indicators measuring the efficiency, quality, and independence of justice systems in the EU.
According to the Scoreboard, ‘[a]n
efficient justice system manages its caseload and backlog of cases, and
delivers its decisions without undue delay’. The report presents data on the
efficiency of consumer law litigation. In particular, the report shows data on
the average length of judicial review cases against decisions of consumer
protection authorities applying EU law (regarding the enforcement of the Unfair
Terms Directive, the Consumer Sales Directive, the Unfair Commercial Practices
Directive, and the Consumer Rights Directive). The data allows for a comparison
between 2013, 2016, 2018, and 2019. The most recent data (2019) shows that the
Member States where consumer litigation takes the longest are Cyprus (around 1800
days, approximately 5 years), Greece (around 1700 days, approximately 4,5 years);
and Poland (around 900 days, approximately 2,5 years). On the other hand, the
Member States where consumer litigation is the fastest are Hungary (around 100
days, or 3,3 months), Lithuania (around 150 days, or 5 months), and Romania
(around 160 days, or 5,3 months). Even though these results are not representative
of all EU Member States (for example, Germany, Luxembourg, and Austria were not
included in the study because consumer authorities do not have the power to
decide on consumer law infringements), one of the conclusions to take is the
stark difference in the length of enforcement of consumer rights within the EU.
Nevertheless, several represented Member States achieved faster procedures than
when compared to 2016 (with the exceptions of, for example, Slovenia and
Poland).
Additionally, the report presents data
on the length of proceedings by consumer authorities, including decisions declaring
infringements of substantive rules, interim measures, and cease and desist
orders (regarding the same Directives). The data presented also covers 2013, 2016,
2018, and 2019. In 2019, among the Member States where consumer authorities
take the longest to decide, there is Poland (around 600 days, or approximately 1,6
years), Greece (around 350 days, or 1 year), and Slovakia (around 200 days, or
approximately 6,6 months). It is interesting to note the parallel with the length
of court procedures presented above. On the other hand, among the Member States
where consumer authorities are fastest to decide, there is Romania (around 20
days), Estonia (around 20 days), and Slovenia (around 20 days).
It is also noteworthy that, when measuring
the quality of justice systems, the Scoreboard shows data on legal aid in
consumer claims of 6 000 euros. It is worrying that, in 2020, several Member
States (including France, Slovakia, and Romania) may not consider people with
an income below the poverty threshold as eligible for any type of legal aid
(partial or total). The Scoreboard includes many more interesting insights, and
it is definitely worth a read.
