AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl and Dr Kirstin McGoldrick, KNOETZL
5. Key Trends 5.1 Impact of Key Trends
Sample lawsuits are subject to the general enforce- ment rules. Austrian-Type Mass Claim The decision on an Austrian-type mass claim is bind- ing inter partes for the assigned claims and only inter- rupts the limitation period for these claims. The claimant enforces the decision and transfers to the individuals (part of) the amount corresponding to their individual claim. The general enforcement rules apply. Austria finally implemented Directive (EU) 2020/1828 on representative actions for the protection of collec- tive consumer interests into national law in summer of 2024. 4.2 Legislative Reform While the necessity of a legislative reform has been obvious since the implementation of the Directive (EU) 2020/1828, its reform is not to be expected soon. Unless significant changes will be implemented soon, many experts in the field of collective actions fear that the new regime will not be utilised with the desired frequency. 4. Legislative Reform 4.1 Policy Development
The Austrian regime on collective redress has been slow to arrive in the Austrian courts, and it still remains to be seen whether or to what extent the possibility of bringing actions for collective redress will actually be utilised. Due to the many procedural uncertainties in the untested regime, there still seems to be a sense of caution among practitioners. However, Austrian con- sumer protection organisations have made a start, often combining the old consumer class actions with new collective redress injunction actions to benefit from the broader scope of the new rules and special- ised jurisdiction of the Commercial Court of Vienna.
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