The risk of breaches of Union law that affect collective interests of consumers increased due to economic globalisation and digitisation. It happens that consumers are affected in more than one member state. The possibility of legal redress is very important because the violations affect consumer protection law as well as a variety of consumers. A few Member States do not have this possibility and in other Member States this possibility is distinctly different.

In 2009 the directive on injunctions for the protection of consumers´ interest (Directive 2009/22/EC) was adopted. This directive allows qualified institutions to bring an association action in order to protect collective interests of consumers. This procedure is mostly used successfully in cases of national violations. Regarding cross-border violations, this procedure seems less successful. The mentioned procedure shows considerable shortcomings that seem obstructive. For example, costs are high, the procedure is long and complex, the decisions have limited impact and it is difficult to enforce them.

There are significant differences within the Member States regarding enforcement and effectiveness of the directive. The defects of the procedure in accordance with the directive 2009/22/EG show that the problems regarding the enforcement of consumer law are not solved satisfactorily. Therefore, the European Union interferes to guarantee collective legal protection within international cases. The directive 2009/22/EG should be modernised and replaced.

For this purpose, the directive 2018/0089 has been presented in early 2018 to harmonise collective legal protection within the Union. The draft was published in summer 2020. In accordance with the new directive, qualified institutions are supposed to bring a suit on behalf of consumers regarding an injunction, removal, or damages. The directive has to be accepted by the Council of the European Union. Afterwards, the Member States have 24 months to implement it within national legislation. The proposed directive is supposed to regulate key elements and create a scope for association actions so that the legal traditions of member countries can be respected.