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Article

20 Dec 2017

Author:
Christopher Patz in OpenDemocracy (USA)

EU legislation on collective redress must allow all victims of corporate abuse to access remedy- not just consumers, says commentator

" Consumer is King? Of class actions and who matters in EU law ",  20 Dec 2017

...Collective redress (also known as “class action”) is a procedure allowing many individuals to bring their judicial claims together in a single proceeding against a common defendant...However...its availability across EU Member States is a disharmonised patchwork.

...In October 2017 the European Commission announced plans for EU-wide legislation for collective redress. But unlike previous, non-binding efforts from the Commission that applied to all victims of corporate harm, the current binding proposal is only for consumers. 

...Compared to consumer cases, the barriers to justice in corporate environmental harm and human rights cases are typically even more extreme...The worldwide deficit concerning access to remedy in cases of harm occasioned by corporations is real and significant.

...Allowing individual claimants the right to bring their cases together is a concrete and effective way to fulfil state['s human rights] duty, and gives tangible practical effect to the right to effective remedy for victims. [I]t is a plea being made... including [by] the Council of Europe, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, the European Economic and Social Committee...civil society and various MEPs.

By crowning the consumer king, the EU commission ignores the legitimate right to remedy for all other people suffering serious harm occasioned by irresponsible corporate conduct. Europe can still seize the opportunity to make equal the right to effective remedy for all those harmed by business malpractice.