Compensatory consumer collective redress and the Brussels I regulation

One way to facilitate fair access to justice in cross-border consumer disputes is "collective redress", a mechanism which would allow a large number of individuals to aggregate their similar claims in one action sharing the costs of the proceedings. Collective redress would also be an adequate means to protect the "public" interests that might be at stake. Infringements of consumer rights that affect a very large number of individuals may create distortion in markets, which would be inadequately addressed by individual action.