On 24 June 2024, new legal regulations were published in the Collection of Laws and International Treaties, which fundamentally change the procedural rules of civil justice. The key regulation is Act No. 179/2024 Coll., on mass civil judicial proceedings, which entered into force on 1 July 2024. Act No. 180/2024 Coll., amending related legal regulations, and Decree No. 181/2024 Coll., which implements some provisions of the new Act, were adopted together with it.
The main purpose of Act No. 179/2024 Coll. is to introduce mass civil proceedings, which allows consumers and micro-enterprises to jointly enforce their claims against entrepreneurs. The aim is to speed up and simplify the resolution of mass disputes where individual consumers were unable to enforce their rights independently. The law applies to disputes arising after November 24, 2020.
At the same time as the new Act on Mass Civil Proceedings, the Code of Civil Procedure was amended, which also entered into force on 1 July 2024. However, proceedings initiated before this date will be completed according to the original legislation. Although this amendment may seem inconspicuous, it brings several fundamental changes that can have a significant impact on participants in legal proceedings.
In addition to the aforementioned innovation in the delivery of payment orders, disputes between multiple consumers against the same entrepreneur can now be heard in one court proceeding. Small entrepreneurs can also join class actions, and the aim of this amendment is to motivate consumers to resolve disputes in court, even if the amounts involved are small. However, a lawsuit can only be filed by a non-profit organization dealing with consumer protection, which must be authorized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and legal representation is required.
For greater transparency, an online database of mass proceedings has been established, available at hromadnerizeni.justice.cz. The proceedings themselves take place at the Municipal Court in Prague, with the appeal being heard as a priority. Consumers do not have the status of plaintiff in the proceedings, but they can file objections, express their views on the proceedings, view the file and, if necessary, withdraw their application.
If individual proceedings concerning the same dispute are already ongoing, they may be suspended and the debtor may join the collective proceedings. If a final decision is subsequently made in the collective proceedings, the individual proceedings shall be terminated. If the collective proceedings do not end with a decision on the merits, the individual proceedings shall continue.
Even in these cases, you can contact our law firm so that we can preliminarily assess your claims and at the same time suggest further possible steps for recovering your receivables.
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