The webinar started with a welcome address by Emilia Mišćenić, Associate Professor at the University of Rijeka, Co-Chair of the ELI Croatian Hub, and was followed by a presentation by Paula Poretti, Assistant Professor in Civil Law and Vice-Dean for Education and Students at the J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek) on the protection of the collective interests of consumers by means of a new Directive 2020/1828 on Representative Actions. Poretti first introduced the background of the legislative process as well as main policy goals behind the introduction of the new instrument. She gave an overview of the main characteristics of the representative action and highlighted issues related to the cross-border collective redress litigation in the context of the Brussels I (Recast) Regulation. She also discussed possible challenges which are to be expected during the transposition of the solutions provided in the Directive on representative action to Croatian law. Poretti opined that of the newly introduced mechanism of a representative action will have limited effect on the future redress opportunities for EU consumers.

The presentation was followed by a Q&A session.

The next ELI Croatian Hub webinar will be held on 14 May 2021.