Whether with regard to mass torts, civil-rights claims or as a means of private enforcement of antitrust and other regulatory policies: Collective redress of civil claims has been gaining in importance in Europe and worldwide. Long associated with the American model of class actions, an increasing number of EU Member States have made their own attempts at collective redress institutions. At the same time, the amendment of the Brussels I Regulation has shied away from dealing with the cross-border aspects of collective redress. In this book, a worldwide group of distinguished experts in private international law, civil procedure and regulatory law evaluate the problems of cross-border collective redress and provide proposals for a "European way" appropriate for the twenty-first century. This very topical work is, thus, indispensable for practitioners, academics, lobbyists and institutional agents.

While much has been written about the advantages and disadvantages of large-scale litigation and arbitration from a public policy perspective, relatively little has been written about how parties can affect the resolution of mass disputes as a matter of contract, particularly in cases involving parties from several different countries. This chapter therefore considers whether and to what extent standard contractual devices, including choice of law agreements, choice of court agreements and arbitration agreements, can be used in cases involving large-scale international legal injuries. The discussion begins by considering the various ways that large-scale disputes can arise, since different fact patterns require different types of contractual responses, then outlines the kinds of problems that arise in cases of cross-border collective redress, including those of a substantive, regulatory and procedural nature. The analysis then evaluates a variety of possible solutions to these problems, including those generated by the state as well as those generated by private parties. The latter discussion not only addresses procedural agreements (including waivers of mass claims) that arise on a pre-dispute basis, it also considers the possibility of obtaining consent to various procedures on a post-dispute basis, a technique that has long been said to be impossible but that is the only feasible option in certain fact patterns or legal regimes. In undertaking this analysis, this chapter challenges conventional wisdom suggesting that parties to large-scale international disputes are either unwilling or unable to create carefully tailored, mutually agreeable procedures through private contract measures. Instead, this discussion shows that it is in fact possible for parties to international commercial and investment disputes to adopt both pre-dispute and post-dispute agreements that reduce the time, cost and uncertainty associated with global class actions and cross-border collective redress, thereby avoiding the numerous problems associated with contemporary litigation practice.

In recent decades, the rise in cross-border law violations has harmed numerous victims around the globe. The damages are often dispersed and low-level. As a result, the private enforcement gap has deepened and collective redress represents an interesting procedural instrument that is able to provide effective access to justice. This book analyses thoroughly the dominant collective redress models adopted in the EU. Data from 13 Member States has been catalogued and categorised. The research mainly focuses on the consumer law field but frequent references to financial and data protection-related cases are made. The dominant collective redress models are then studied from a private international law perspective. In particular, the book highlights the current mismatch between collective redress on the one hand, and rules on international jurisdiction on the other. Additionally, it notes that barriers to cross-border litigation remain significant for victims and their representatives. The unprecedented empirical study included in this book confirms that statement. Observing that EU measures have not satisfactorily lowered those barriers, the author proposes the creation of a new head of jurisdiction for cases of international collective redress. This book will be of interest to private international law scholars, researchers, students, legal practitioners, judges and policy-makers. It is a reference point for those with an interest in cross-border collective redress in particular, and private international law in general.

An expert analysis of the relevant law and jurisprudence in mass litigation, this edited work examines the diverse and complex transnational considerations and issues of collective redress. With contributions from distinguished and authoritative commentators on this topic, the coverage is broad, thorough, and practically focused. The book offers new perspectives on the challenges of collective redress as it innovatively combines a comparative and cross border approach. Organized clearly into sections, it provides in-depth comment on these challenges from a national, European, and global perspective. With detailed analysis of the relevant law and jurisprudence in this area offering a significant practical impact, this book also examines possible solutions to the challenges identified, covering important topics and issues within collective redress mechanisms; the private international law perspective on collective redress; reception of foreign collective redress; and extraterritoriality and US law. Including contributions from the jurisdictions most relevant to these conflict of laws issues, this book unites global expertise to provide information on a complex topic and offer a solution-based approach to the collective redress landscape.

This book specifically covers issues regarding jurisdiction and the recognition andenforcement of judgments in cross-border mass disputes relating to financial services.Collective redress mechanisms, legal mechanisms which can be used to resolve mass disputescollectively, are growing more important. Due to the global increase in cross-bordertrade and financial transactions, the number of cross-border mass disputes has increased.In the EU, several prototypes of collective redress mechanism exist that can be used toresolve mass disputes and, aside from the EU’s recommendation on the drafting oflaws relating to collective redress, a reevaluation of the Brussels Regulation has alsotaken place as on 10 January 2015 the Brussels I-bis Regulation replaced the old BrusselsRegulation dating from 2000. In spite of a minor reference to collective redress in the Commission proposal, BrusselsI-bis does not contain any provision relating to collective redress. As a result, many questionsregarding cross-border mass disputes and the relevant private international law issues remainunanswered and unresolved. This book sets out to describe the most important prototypesby referring to actual collective redress mechanisms. In addition, it also sets out how parties to such mass disputes can confer jurisdiction to courtsin the EU and what the various pitfalls are. Moreover, the rules concerning the recognitionand enforcement of judgments originating from a collective procedure are listed. Ascross-border collective redress mechanisms and the rules of private international law to beused in such a context are still being developed, the goals of private international law andthe goals of the referred collective redress mechanisms are analysed to provide an insightinto how these sets of rules should and could be employed. This book is primarily aimed at researchers, practitioners and lawmakers actively involvedin and/or professionally interested in the field of private international law and collectiveredress mechanisms and should prove very useful in providing them with a greater in-depthunderstanding of the issues at hand. Thijs Bosters is a law clerk at the Dutch Supreme Court. Prior to his work at the SupremeCourt, he was an attorney-at-law with NautaDutilh in The Netherlands, where he workedin the Litigation & Arbitration department.

Written by leading authorities in the field of European civil procedure and collective redress, this timely book explores the model collective proceedings rules in the ELI/UNDROIT European Rules of Civil Procedure. It explains the intended application of this ‘best practice’ set of collective redress rules, intended to promote greater consistency in civil and commercial court procedure across Europe, linking to existing European practice and initiatives in the field.

An expert analysis of the relevant law and jurisprudence in mass litigation, this edited work examines the diverse and complex transnational considerations and issues of collective redress. With contributions from distinguished and authoritative commentators on this topic, the coverage is broad, thorough, and practically focused. The book offers new perspectives on the challenges of collective redress as it innovatively combines a comparative and cross border approach. Organized clearly into sections, it provides in-depth comment on these challenges from a national, European, and global perspe.