Commission rejects proposal on collective redress
Published: Friday, Oct 18th 2024, 16:50
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Swiss citizens should not be able to claim compensation under civil law through class actions. A majority of the National Council's Legal Affairs Committee found that the instruments for collective redress envisaged by the Federal Council do not suit the Swiss legal system.
In the eyes of the majority of the National Council's Legal Affairs Committee (RK-N), the national government's proposal harbours the risk of an "Americanization" of the legal system. This view prevailed in the committee vote by 14 votes to 10 with one abstention. The committee therefore asked the Council to reject the bill, as the parliamentary services announced on Friday.
It is expected that commercially oriented law firms and litigation funding organizations could specialize in filing lawsuits that could cause significant damage to the economy as a whole, the press release continued.
A minority regretted that the Commission had not engaged in a substantive discussion of the bill. It still sees a great need for action and criticizes the fact that Swiss consumers would have significantly fewer rights than their European neighbors in the future.
With this bill, the Federal Council wants to extend collective redress to all areas of law. For example, if a car manufacturer sells a faulty car, customers in Switzerland who have suffered the same damage should be able to enforce their rights together. They should also be able to collectively assert claims for compensation.
The current law does not currently provide sufficient opportunities for collective law enforcement, the Federal Council wrote on the bill. This applies in particular to collective redress, which exists but can hardly be applied. It only exists in cases of personal injury.
©Keystone/SDA
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