• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
  • Volunteer
    • Internship with The Online Citizen
  • Donation
  • Subscription
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
  • zh-hans 简体中文
  • en English
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Class action lawsuits to become EU law

by The Online Citizen
30/12/2020
in Court Cases, International
Reading Time: 2min read
0

European consumers will soon be able to band together as groups in court after the European Parliament on Tuesday adopted legislation giving them the right to US-style class-action lawsuits.

The measure will become law within the next two years, once it is published in EU’s official administrative gazette, and member states change their laws to include it.

Currently, only six EU countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) offer what the European Consumer Organisation considers to be a full collective redress system.

The EU legislation means that all 27 member states will have to allow consumers to launch group actions against a trader or company they believe has caused them loss or harm.

It aims to put consumers on a fairer footing with deep-pocketed corporations, and to overcome the often prohibitive legal costs individuals face in taking them to court.

While similar to class action lawsuits used in the US, the EU approach differs in significant ways, to avoid what Europeans view as excesses of the US system.

For instance, law firms will not be able to initiate the collective redress lawsuits, while consumer organisations will, and there is no scope for punitive damages to be demanded beyond actual losses incurred.

MEPs approved the legislation in a videolink session because of coronavirus restrictions. They did not take it to a vote because no amendment was proposed to an agreement reached in June between negotiators from the parliament and the EU member state governments.

The European Commission started pushing for the initiative in 2018, after scandals such as “dieselgate”, when Volkswagen violated emissions rules on millions of diesel-fuelled vehicles and angry European owners did not have the same redress as that won by US counterparts.

“European consumers deserve such protection. Everyone knows that going alone to court is slow, costly and uncertain,” Geoffroy Didier, a French MEP involved in drawing up the text, said in a statement to AFP.

He noted that such collection action would have been handy today, when many European consumers have had to cancel trips because of the Covid-19 pandemic “and many never got reimbursed”.

– AFP

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Source: AFP
Tags: AFP
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Recent Posts

  • Vietnam reports first virus outbreak in nearly two months
  • Epic battle over GameStop as ‘nerds’ take on Wall Street
  • MHA owes the public an explanation as to why it chose to flout the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child
  • RDU expresses grave concerns over three individuals arrested for peaceful protest against anti-LGBT discrimination outside MOE building
  • WHO team to start Wuhan virus probe under global glare
  • MOH preliminarily confirms 34 new cases of COVID-19 infection; Total tally at 59,425

Trending posts

Family and netizens applaud Singapore Police Force for their prompt action in finding a missing 7-year-old boy

Public member complains prices at FairPrice too high and questions its mission to serve working-class SGs

Sheng Siong being compared to NTUC FairPrice after rewarding staff with up to 16 month’s bonuses

Netizens call for “full transparency” by MOH after reports of adverse events from Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination recorded in S’pore

Chan Chun Sing says not meaningful to track growth of Singaporean core in companies

Students petition MOE to stop using device management application on students’ laptops due to privacy and security concerns

Load More
November 2020
MTWTFSS
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30 
« Oct   Dec »
  • About Us
  • Volunteer
  • Donation
  • Subscription
  • Letter submission
  • Contact Us

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2006 - 2021 The Online Citizen

wpDiscuz
0
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
| Reply