Class Actions – Who Wants To Go First?

Recently, a Class Action Act was adopted which will take effect as of 21 April 2018. The Act aims at providing for an efficient joint pursuit of rights by injured parties that, until now, were discouraged by lengthy and expensive court proceedings.

The applicability of the Act is limited to the most typical cases where damage is incurred by a number of consumers due to a violation of consumer protection regulations (e.g. product liability), anti-competitive restrictive practices and abuse of a dominant position or a violation of rules of trading on regulated markets and market abuse, employees (e.g. unpaid overtime), or other individuals due to environmental accidents.

Moreover, the Act provides for restrictions regarding the potential claimants. A class action may only be brought by an eligible representative, i.e. a private legal entity pursuing non-profit activity related to the violated rights (e.g. consumer organisations, trade unions) or by a senior state attorney.

Pursuant to the Act, the injured individuals are not parties to the proceedings, which means that they are not entitled to personally bring a class action; however, they are (under certain circumstances) offered the opportunity to inform the court whether they want to be included or excluded as members of the group and present their views before the court in the proceedings.

Furthermore, the Act provides for the priority...