Andrew McGahey and Aoife Ryan of Kennedys examine the Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Bill 2022.
The EU Representative Actions Directive (EU) 2020/1828 is to be transposed into Irish law by 25 December 2022, with effect from June 2023. The Directive aims to improve consumers’ access to justice by introducing a standardized EU wide legal mechanism by which consumers, who are affected by the same alleged infringements of EU law, can bring a representative action – also commonly referred to as a collective or group action – for injunctive relief and/or redress.
The Irish government recently published its draft general scheme of the Representative Actions for the Protection of the Collective Interests of Consumers Bill 2022. Whilst the final legislation is likely to look somewhat different to the draft bill, it will nevertheless be novel, because there is no existing legislative framework or legal procedure in Ireland which provides for collective redress, or any form of group action akin to those available in other jurisdictions.
Against a growing trend of mass consumer led litigation across the globe, the scheme will inevitably have a pronounced impact on the Irish litigation landscape in the coming years.
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