Novi pravni režim zaštite kolektivnih interesa potrošača u Evropskoj uniji

Abstract

In June 2020, the political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union has been reached on the final text of the Proposal for a Directive on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers, which is expected to enter into force by the end of 2020. The European legislator, by the Proposal for a new Directive, aims to strike a right balance between two seemingly conflicting goals: 1) strengthening the protection of consumers’ collective interests, primarily by recognition of the right of individual consumers to obtain redress within the collective proceedings, and 2) preventing possible abuses of the proceedings for the protection of collective interests of consumers, which may produce harmful consequences to the traders, consumers, as well as to the general trust of the citizens in the functionality of the system of the protection of consumers. The author in the paper, after a short overview of the provisions of still current Injunctions Directive from 2009, deals with the main subject of this paper, which comprises the review of the provisions of the Proposal for a new Directive that contributes to the attainment of the stated basic objectives of Directive. In the concluding remarks, the author assesses the expected effects of the new Directive and its success in finding a proper balance between its two main goals (strengthening the protection of consumers and preventing abuses of the proceedings).