New collective redress instruments available in the EU for private enforcement of ESG claims

While only very few EU Member States have transposed the EU Collective Redress Directive into national law within the implementation deadline, the implementation process is now picking up speed in many Member States. 

The Directive obliges Member States to ensure that so-called “qualified entities” may launch, in their own name: (i) actions for injunctions to bring infringements of consumer law to an end; and (ii) so-called “redress actions” to enforce consumer rights. 

Such instruments of collective redress are very important in the area of ESG. For example, greenwashing claims are often based on the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and its national implementation acts, which, according to its annex, are also covered by the Collective Redress Directive and its national implementation acts. Collective redress could be be increasingly used in the future to enforce alleged greenwashing claims – as well as other ESG harms. 

For more information on the implementation of the Collective Redress Directive across Europe, please refer to our implementation tracker, which is updated on a regular basis. 

For other materials on this Directive, see our Collective Redress in the EU webpage.