GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas Lennarz, Peter Wende and Christian Piroutek, CMS
whether a company is liable in principle) but it does not grant individual damages or specific performance. The judgment is binding on the qualified entity, the defendant, and all consumers who registered their claims in the official register before the statutory dead- line. Non-registered consumers remain unaffected. As the judgment is only declaratory, it cannot be directly enforced. Registered consumers must initi- ate follow-on individual proceedings to obtain specific remedies such as damages or reimbursement, relying on the declaratory findings as a binding precedent. Enforcement mechanisms are therefore not available at this stage, given that there is no operative award to enforce. Enforcement of Judgments in Redress Actions The redress action goes significantly further. After a court finds the action admissible and justified, it issues a basic redress judgment, which sets out liability in principle and defines eligibility criteria for consumers and small businesses. This is binding on all registered participants. If no settlement is reached thereafter, the court issues a final redress judgment, which not only resolves the legal dispute but also orders the commencement of implementation proceedings. In this phase, a court- appointed administrator establishes an implementa- tion fund, verifies eligibility of registered claimants, and distributes compensation. The final judgment includes a costs decision and is directly enforceable against the defendant. Enforcement does not occur through the individual consumers but, rather, through the implementation mechanism supervised by the court and carried out by the administrator.
for court services, a uniform cloud-based communi- cations platform for case files, and the transition from static PDF pleadings to machine-processable digital procedural documents. The report also proposes: • strengthening specialised chambers; • early judicial case management measures; • more efficient evidence procedures via digital registries; • the introduction of a digital enforcement register; and • reforms to service of and mandatory publication of court decisions (with anonymisation). 4.2 Legislative Reform At present, there are no concrete legislative proposals for specifically reforming collective redress proceed- ings in Germany. The redress action under the Con- sumer Rights Enforcement Act was only introduced in October 2023 to implement the EU Representative Actions Directive and remains in its early phase of application. During the past three years, Germany has experienced a transformation in its system of collective redress, shaped by both new legislation and evolving litiga- tion practice. The most significant development is the introduction of the redress action under the Con- sumer Rights Enforcement Act, which for the first time enables qualified entities to pursue direct monetary and non-monetary relief on behalf of consumers and small businesses. Although only a limited number of such actions have been initiated so far, they highlight a growing willingness of consumer associations to use this tool in high-volume disputes, particularly in indus- tries such as energy supply, telecommunications, and digital services. 5. Key Trends 5.1 Impact of Key Trends
4. Legislative Reform 4.1 Policy Development
Germany is pursuing a modernisation agenda with regard to civil procedure ‒ notably, through a Reform Commission established in 2023. The Reform Com- mission’s January 2025 final report presents spe- cific recommendations for a Zivilprozess der Zukunft (future civil litigation process), including the creation of a nationwide justice portal as a single access point
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