The Register of Representative Actions is held by the Federal Office of Justice. The legal basis for the Register of Representative Actions is Section 43 of the Act on the Joint Enforcement of Consumer Rights (Consumer Rights Enforcement Act (Verbraucherrechtedurchsetzungsgesetz – VDuG)) and Section 1 of the Register of Representative Actions Ordinance (VKRegV).

Representative Actions

As per Section 44 of the Act on the Joint Enforcement of Consumer Rights, it is the Federal Office of Justice which officially announces representative actions in the Register of Representative Actions. The Act provides a legal avenue for multiple individual injured parties to make claims against companies. The Register of Representative Actions joins up the individual entitlements of the injured parties with those of the parties decided on in the representative action. Claims can only be made by qualified consumer bodies and qualified entities based in other European Union Member States, provided they meet certain further conditions.

Once a representative action (declaratory model action or redress action) has been officially announced on the website of the Federal Office of Justice, consumers and (in the case of actions pending since 13 October 2023) small businesses can register their claims and legal relationships which are the subject of a representative action and have them entered in the Register of Representative Actions (see “Proceedings for consumers and small enterprises”).

Registration is free of charge. Please use the online forms made available by the Federal Office of Justice to ensure you are added to the register as quickly as possible. A dedicated form for each representative action can be found in “Official Announcements in Register of Representative Actions”.

You will find more information on representative actions on our German-language website.

Injunctions

The Federal Office of Justice also uses the Register of Representative Actions for the official announcement of injunctions relating to claims under Sections 1 to 2a of the Act on Actions for an Injunction (Unterlassungsklagengesetz) or Section 8 Subsection 1 of the Act to Prevent Anticompetitive Practices (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb) from qualified consumer bodies and qualified entities based in other European Union Member States. The content requirements for official announcements are set out in Section 6a Subsection 1 and 3 of the Act on Actions for an Injunction.

Cease and desist motions

As a final step, the Federal Office of Justice officially announces, by means of the Register of Representative Actions, cease and desist motions relating to claims under Sections 1 to 2a of the Act on Actions for an Injunction or Section 8 Subsection 1 of the Act to Prevent Anticompetitive Practices from qualified consumer bodies and qualified entities based in other European Union Member States. The requirements in terms of contents relating to the official announcements are set out in Section 6a Subsection 2 and 3 of the Act on Actions for an Injunction.