European Collective Action and Private International Law in the Wake of the Dieselgate Emissions Justice Foundation Lawsuit in the Netherlands

Abstract

The outbreak of the Dieselgate scandal in 2015 resulted in the initiation of legal actions around the world to compensate the damage caused to affected consumers. Specifically, in the EU, the scope of these actions has been limited, producing effects only within the territory of the corresponding Member States. This is due to the difficulty of articulating a Europe–wide collective action on the basis of the legal instruments available to date. The introduction of a new procedural mechanism in Dutch law has led the DEJF, an association based in the Netherlands, to bring a collective action on behalf of consumers from several European countries. The action raises a series of questions that highlight the need to adapt the criteria used by the instruments of private international law in order to guarantee an effective deployment of the European model of collective protection.