Collective Rights in Europe

A wide-ranging study of collective redress to ascertain which types of safeguards or barriers are incorporated in order to maximise the effectiveness and policy aims.

This is a wide ranging study of collective redress. It firstly examines different conceptual models of collective redress, and then undertakes a detailed comparative review of examples of those models. Jurisdictions studied stretch from Latin America, the USA and Europe, to Asia and Africa.How are collective rights addressed in Europe? This book examines this question, looking at collective or class action procedures, in the European Union and selected Member States, including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. It shows the tension between collective rights and principles of autonomy and fundamental individual rights. This book looks at how EU law, though unifying in nature, does allow for extensive diversity in the recognition and enforcement of collective or solidarity rights across member states. It goes on to explore questions of enforcement. It reveals varying approaches to the question across member states, despite the EU’s harmonization objectives. A fascinating insight into an increasingly important category of rights.