New Austrian Bill on Group Action Claims

Jun 21, 2024 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice has presented the government bill draft for the implementation of the long overdue Group Actions Directive (Verbandsklage-Richtlinie). A new Qualified Entities Act (Qualifizierte-Einrichtungen-Gesetz, hereinafter QEG) will be in force, and the rules of procedure will be amended.

In future, so-called qualified entities will be able to bring group action claims. Qualified entities shall be appointed by the Austrian Federal Cartel Prosecutor at the request of a business and will then be authorised to file cross-border group actions (Section 1 of the QEG) and/or domestic group actions (Section 2 of the QEG). The Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich) and the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (Bundesarbeiterkammer) are authorised ex lege to bring both cross-border and domestic group actions. Other organisations are also authorised to bring national group actions ex lege, including the Association for Consumer Information (Verein für Konsumenteninformation).

Qualified organisations will now have the right to demand that a business refrain from engaging in unlawful conduct that harms or threatens to harm the collective interests of consumers. The organisation can also bring a claim for redress on behalf of individual consumers. In this context, it can also apply for an injunction concerning rights and legal relations.

The Austrian Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung, hereinafter ZPO) will receive a new section on group actions (Sections 619 et seq. ZPO new), which will regulate actions for injunctions and redress by individual consumers.

Businesses can avoid an injunction by making a declaration to cease and desist after a warning (new Section 619(3) of the ZPO), secured by an appropriate contractual penalty. The limitation period for all affected consumers is suspended by the filing of the action for injunction.

Group action claims allows a qualified entity to enforce a specific claim of at least 50 consumers against the same business on the basis of substantially similar circumstances. The court must publish the decision on the implementation of a group action in the Austrian legal notices database, Ediktsdatei [1]. Within the following three months, other consumers are entitled to join the group action.

Group actions under the Consumer Protection Act (Konsumentenschutzgesetz, KSchG) and the Unfair Competition Act (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb, UWG) will continue to be available.

Regierungsvorlage (Government Bill Draft) 2602 BlgNR XXVII. GP (12 June 2024)

[1] The Austrian Ediktsdatei is the official legal notices database of the Austrian Ministry of Justice that also serves as electronic notice board. See edikte.justiz.gv.at/edikte/edikthome.nsf