| Based on the French Consumer Protection Act of 17th March 2014, known as the Loi Hamon, new provisions (Articles 423-1 et seq.) of the Consumer Code (Code de la consommation) were adopted, introducing class action (action de groupe) into the French legal system. Initially, the scope of class actions was limited to consumer disputes and claims arising from violations of the competition law. A broader possibility to initiate class actions appeared in French law with the entry into force of the Act of 18th November 2016, on the modernization of the justice system for the needs of the 21st century, and the Decree of 6th May 2017.
The first class action in France was filed on 1st October 2014 (i.e., on the very day that such a possibility arose) by the consumer organization UFC–Que Choisir. It was filed against a real estate agent and property manager and concerned illegal fees charged to tenants. The case ended up before the Court of Appeal in Nanterre, which on 14th May 2018, ruled that the class action was inadmissible on the grounds that the application of prohibited fees in the field of real estate rental did not constitute a consumer dispute within the meaning of the Act of 2014. In June 2019, the same consumer organization filed a class action against Google for the unauthorized processing of personal data of Android phone users, demanding payment of EUR 1,000 as compensation to each member of the group.
On 17th October 2018, a parliamentary bill was submitted to the French Parliament allowing, in disputes originally covered by the Act of 2014 (disputes on consumer rights and competition protection), proceedings to be initiated directly by the persons concerned (i.e., without the need to act through a consumer organization). A report by a French parliamentary working group dated on 10th June 2020, showed that since the introduction of class action proceedings in France in 2014, only 21 class action proceedings have been initiated, none of which had even reached the liability determination stage by mid-2020. The report shows that 14 proceedings concerned consumer protection, three concerned medicinal products, and two each concerned unequal treatment and personal data protection.
On 27th January 2021, six non-governmental organizations filed a class action against the prime minister, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Justice regarding discriminatory identity checks conducted by the police.
On 5th January 2022, the Court in Paris issued a first instance judgment in a class action concerning the drug Depakine. The judgment of 5th January 2022, is significant in that, for the first time since class actions were introduced in France in 2014, a French court has found the defendant liable and allowed the case to proceed to the compensation phase. It is also noteworthy that the defendant was ordered to bear part of the costs of the association representing the claimants. |
