Draft Consumer Rights Bill includes proposed new "opt-out" class action for competition claims

The government's draft Consumer Rights Bill, published today, includes proposals for a new collective action for competition claims, together with other proposals for reforming the UK regime for competition law private actions. The draft legislation follows proposals published by the government in January this year (see post).

The draft Bill will be considered by Parliament as part of the pre-legislative scrutiny process. The government's policy paper states that, although its policy position on competition law private actions was published in January this year, it is "aware of strong and different views of stakeholders about the effectiveness and impact of these proposals". It therefore particularly welcomes comments and views on this element of the draft Bill "to help inform a final position and ensure the outcome is as effective as possible". Comments are requested by 13 September 2013.