The EU Council approved an amended version of the draft EU Directive on Class Actions at the end of November.
The process will most likely be completed in the course of 2020. Although the directive may undergo further amendments, it is already evident that more discretion will be handed over to the Member States than previously anticipated.
In that respect, the ongoing Czech legislative process on the Class Action Act, an amended version of which was submitted to the government on 28 November, will be of more significance. The directive provides for both opt-in and opt-out mechanisms in individual Member States. While the Czech bill in its current form also anticipates both these approaches, the stricter opt-out should be available only in cases of small claims, usually under CZK 3,000.
By Lenka Petrakova, Junior Lawyer, JSK
