Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee Andre Hanimägi pointed out that the Bill would create means for better protection of customers. “The new type of procedural mechanism will allow the competent entity to go to court, with the consent of the victims, to collectively request compensation for damage from the service provider that has caused a problem. Thanks to collective representative action, consumers do not have to go to court themselves and they will also not have the risk of having to bear the costs.”

For the second reading, the Committee decided to add to the Bill an amendment, which determines the minimum number of consumers concerned by a representative action in order for the case to be proceeded as a representative action – ten persons if an organisation of consumers turns to court, or 20 persons if the action is brought by a state agency.

“The purpose of the Directive is to protect the consumers, and at the same time strengthen the entities representing the interests of consumers. As there are not many such entities in Estonia, we considered it right to grant the right to bring representative actions also to governmental authorities, or to the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority, the Financial Supervision Authority and to the Data Protection Inspectorate. At the same time, we hope that the amendment will also encourage the emergence of consumer associations that would stand for the consumers,” Hanimägi said.

Before the second reading, the Committee also made a specification to the Bill, which ensures that it would be unambiguously clear that the collective representative action would be applied only in the case of infringement of collective interests of natural persons. It is also provided that all decisions made in collective representative actions will be made public, as there is a public interest in them due to the large number of consumers.

Accoeding to the Bill, the right to bring collective representative actions will be granted to the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority, the Financial Supervision Authority and the Data Protection Inspectorate, as well as to other competent entities who will be entered in the list kept by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. The right to bring action may also be granted by the court.

The Bill will transpose an European Union directive that aims to ensure the availability of collective representative action to consumers in Member States. The aim is to boost consumer confidence, to promote fair competition and to create a level playing field for businesses operating in the internal market. It will be a new opportunity in the Estonian legal space where competent authorities, and not consumers who have been harmed, will be able to perform procedural acts in judicial proceedings.

Cross-border representative actions can be brought by competent entities entered in the list kept by the European Commission, or by organisations which have been designated by Member States of the European Union.

Stella Johanson, Adviser of the Courts Division of the Judicial Administration Policy Department of the Ministry of Justice, participated in the sitting.

The second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure and Other Acts (establishment of collective representative action procedure) (334 SE), initiated by the Government, will take place at the plenary sitting of the Riigikogu on 11 December.

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
+372 631 6592; +372 510 6179
merilin.kruuse@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: The Legal Affairs Committee sent the collective representative action bill to the second reading

Source: Parliament of Estonia