AUSTRIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl and Dr Kirstin McGoldrick, KNOETZL
tle, the process itself has always been party driven, only. So far, the court’s involvement has been limited to “recording” the settlement to which the parties had agreed. The new law requires a redress settlement to be approved by the court, but does not provide for any special mechanism or any guidance on how to resolve the matter. Therefore, in practice, no significant changes are to be expected. It will be up to the parties to find a way to resolve the dispute. Often, mediation has been utilised to develop an optimal outcome. Cross-border representative actions The new regime provides for cross-border represent- ative actions. “Cross-border representative action” means a representative action brought by a qualified entity in a member state other than that in which the qualified entity was designated (Article 3 (7), Directive 2020/1828). Qualified entities of another member state can bring such representative actions before Austrian courts.
As the EU Directive contained no rules on interna- tional jurisdiction for cross-border representative actions, the general rules of the Brussels Ia Regulation (Regulation 2012/1215) apply (Article 2 (3), Directive 2020/1828). It is expected that the special jurisdic- tion for delicts (Article 7 (3) Brussels Ia Regulation) will play an important role for cross-border representative actions. Again, whether there will be special “run” on the Austrian courts, is doubtful. This has not been the case so far. The new regime is certainly not Europe’s most claimant-friendly, considering the court fees, the rather short opt-in period, and the lack of effective disclosure rules. Summarised Outlook With Austria’s implementation of the EU Directive in July 2024, consumers were provided with an expan- sive tool to seek redress. The new regime opens real possibilities for consumers to obtain meaningful rem- edies in cases of widespread misconduct by busi- nesses. However, it still remains to be seen to what extent the new tool will actually be utilised and, above all, to what extent the Austrian courts will be able to meet the objective of the EU Directive to provide an effective and efficient means of protecting the collec- tive interests of consumers.
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