UKRAINE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Karina Panchenko, Alyona Bodnar and Dmytro Derkach, Miller Law Firm
confirmed that the NGO had properly exercised its representative function in protecting the environmen- tal rights of individuals, even in the absence of an explicit collective-action framework. Another illustrative example demonstrating the devel- opment of this area is a case currently being handled by Miller Law Firm. Acting on behalf of a public organisation representing the interests of local residents, the firm is challenging the decisions of the Zaporizhzhia City Council that amended the urban development documentation, as a result of which LLC “Land Development” obtained a permit to construct a shopping and entertainment complex on the territory of a municipal park. As a consequence of these decisions, more than 500 century-old trees were removed, causing significant ecological harm to the community. To substantiate the violation of residents’ rights and to assess the damages caused to the community, the case involved – for the first time in Ukraine – a study of ecosystem services, which evaluated the mone- tary value of natural functions such as air purification, surface temperature reduction, carbon storage, and microclimate regulation. This study created a unique evidentiary approach for assessing damage to environmental assets provided by urban green areas. Regardless of the final judgment, the case is prece- dent-setting for Ukraine, as it concerns the rights of an entire city’s residents and establishes a new model for the protection of collective environmental interests. Thus, for many years, the institution of collective action in Ukraine existed only indirectly, through the creation of NGOs whose statutory purpose included the judicial protection of rights and public interests. Legislative reform: towards a European model In late August 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine introduced the Draft Law “on the Protection of Collective Interests of Consumers”. The bill is one of the legislative initiatives designed to align Ukrain-
ian law with EU standards; however, it goes beyond formal harmonisation. It introduces into Ukrainian procedural law a new con- cept of representative action, which in essence is a form of collective action. Its primary goal is to shift the focus from the protection of individual consumer rights to the protection of collective consumer inter- ests. The purpose of the Draft Law is to implement Direc- tive (EU) 2020/1828 on representative actions for the protection of collective interests of consumers, which establishes the European standard for this type of claim. Ukraine is not starting this journey from scratch. Across the European Union, the institution of collec- tive redress has developed gradually, offering valuable insights for the implementation of collective litigation mechanisms in Ukraine. Poland adopted its Act on Group Proceedings as early as 2010, initially focusing on consumer disputes. France introduced the action de groupe in 2014, while the Netherlands enacted the WAMCA (Act on Col- lective Damages Claims) in 2019, creating one of the most comprehensive frameworks in Europe. A common feature of all of these jurisdictions is the “start narrow, then expand” approach – beginning with consumer protection and gradually extending to areas such as competition, financial services, and environmental law. Importantly, the bill limits representative actions to consumer protection cases, meaning claims brought on behalf of individuals who acquire, order or use products for personal needs unrelated to business activities or employment. While preserving the existing remedies (contractual and non-contractual), the bill emphasises that rep- resentative actions complement rather than replace the individual means of judicial protection available to consumers.
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