Kollektiver Rechtsschutz nach dem deutschen Unterlassungsklagengesetz (UKlaG) (English shop)

Preview

Preface, PDF (38 KB)
Extract, PDF (90 KB)
Table of Contents, PDF (120 KB)

Since the enactment of EC Directive 98/27 (98/27/EC)1 on injunctions for the protection of consumers’ interests and of the Act on Injunctive Relief for Consumer Rights and Other Infringements (hereinafter: UKlaG),2 collective actions brought by associations, group actions and test cases have once again become the subject of controversial debate.3 The draft bill on the modernisation of the law of obligations, however, addresses the procedural law of the Act on the Regulation of the Law of Standard Business Terms (hereinafter: AGBG) only in passing. As is well known, the AGBG contained the procedure for actions by associations against unfair terms and practices contrary to consumer protection (§§ 13–22a AGBG, old version). These provisions were amended upon the enactment of the Distance Selling Act4 and adapted to the European Directive on actions by associations. The substantive provisions of the AGB Act have been integrated into the BGB as §§ 305 et seq. For this reason, its procedural part has now been carried forward in a separate act and formulated more clearly.5 In the UKlaG, the former §§ 13 et seq. AGBG have indeed been newly systematised, supplemented in some details and editorially revised, but have essentially been adopted unchanged. The Injunctive Relief Act governs actions by associations against the use or recommendation of invalid standard business terms (§ 13 AGBG) and actions for breach of law (§ 22 AGBG).6 The “substantive” rules are separated more clearly than before from the procedural rules. Under the heading “Claims”, §§ 1–4 govern, in § 1, the claim for injunctive relief and for retraction in respect of standard business terms (previously § 13 AGBG) and, in § 2, the claim for injunctive relief in the case of practices contrary to consumer legislation (previously § 22 AGBG). Under the designation “Holders”, § 3 defines the creditors of the claims for injunctive relief. The registration procedure before the Federal Office of Administration (previously § 22a AGBG) has been moved to § 4. In §§ 5–12, the procedural part adopts, with minor editorial adjustments, the previous procedural provisions of §§ 14–21, 28 AGBG. The following provisions adopt §§ 15–21 AGBG for actions reviewing standard business terms, largely verbatim. In this context, §§ 8–11 set out special provisions for actions under § 1 UKlaG, and §§ 12 and 13 for actions under § 2 UKlaG.7