Alexandre Biard

• Ph.D
• Senior Researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam

This report, which was conducted in the context of the review in 2017 of the European Commission's Recommendation on collective redress mechanisms, presents and discusses the tools that currently exist in France to resolve mass claims. The report covers private enforcement proceedings, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, and compensation sch...

FR: L’action de groupe existe en France depuis 2014. Il est communément admis que son succès n’a été qu’assez limité à ce jour. La transposition de la directive européenne 2020/1828 sur les actions représentatives est considérée par le législateur comme une opportunité pour engager une réforme de fond afin d’améliorer l’effectivité du mécanisme act...

The European Commission has launched the evaluation of the EU consumer ADR framework to assess whether the rules set up in 2013 are still fit for purpose. This is a welcome development as consumer ADR has failed to fully take off in Europe and its development has been hindered by many obstacles. The current rules have shown their limits and are muc...

On 22 June 2020, the European institutions reached a historical deal on a new Directive for representative actions for consumers. Directive 2020/1828 was finally adopted in November 2020 and allows Qualified Entities across the EU to claim compensation on behalf of consumers affected by mass harm situations. Presented by the European Commission in...

Le 18 septembre 2015, le grand public apprenait avec stupeur que Volkswagen avait eu recours à un logiciel frauduleux afin de réduire les émissions de gaz polluants de certains de ses moteurs diesel pendant les tests d’homologation, et ce pendant plusieurs années. Cette annonce fit l’effet d’une bombe dont les conséquences se font encore ressentir...

France is a country with a long tradition of collective proceedings in general but only a limited one when it comes to group actions in particular (called in French ‘actions de groupe’). This instrument was formally adopted in 2014 after decades of tense debates. However, subsequent developments have been patchy and the practical problems plaguing...

France is a country with a long tradition of collective proceedings in general but only a limited one when it comes to group actions in particular (called in French ‘actions de groupe’). This instrument was formally adopted in 2014 after decades of tense debates. However, subsequent developments have been patchy and the practical problems plaguing...

Depuis le début de ses activités en juin 2015, le Service de Médiation pour le Consommateur (« SMC ») est confronté à un nombre croissant de dossiers incomplets transmis par des consommateurs. Ces dossiers sont clôturés avant même qu’une procédure de médiation ait pu être mise en place. De par leur volume, le traitement de ces dossiers représente u...

Le marché des services en ligne de règlement alternatif des litiges serait-il devenu un nouveau Far West, ou plutôt devrions-nous dire, conformément à la terminologie numérique, un nouveau Far Www.est ? C’est en tout cas la question qui se pose aujourd’hui devant la multiplication de plateformes de qualité souvent variable proposant des services en...

In 2018, in the wake of Brexit, the French legal profession took several important measures to strengthen the competitiveness of France and the French legal system, and to make Paris an attractive go-to point when businesses have to deal with international commercial litigation. On close examination, Brexit is only the tip of the iceberg and has mo...

Après son adoption en première lecture par le Parlement européen en mars 2019, la proposition de directive européenne sur les actions représentatives dans le domaine de la protection des intérêts collectifs des consommateurs pourrait entrer dans une nouvelle zone de turbulence lors des discussions devant le Conseil en raison des divergences existan...

FR: Depuis le début de ses activités en juin 2015, le Service de Médiation pour le Consommateur (SMC) est confronté à un nombre croissant de dossiers incomplets soumis par des consommateurs. Ces dossiers sont clôturés avant même qu’une procédure de médiation ait pu être mise en place. Cette étude enquête sur les causes de ces dossiers incomplets, e...

Sinds de aanvang van zijn activiteiten in juni 2015 heeft de Consumentenombudsdienst (COD) te maken met een toenemend aantal onvolledige, door consumenten ingediende dossiers. Deze dossiers worden gesloten voordat een buitengerechtelijke bemiddelingsprocedure van start kon gaan. In dit onderzoek wordt gekeken naar de oorzaken van deze onvolledige d...

This article intends to contribute to ongoing policy discussions at the EU level by pointing out several loopholes in the current Commission’s proposal. After highlighting a few key elements of the proposed representative action, we focus on selected issues. we submit that first, in view of the ever-increasing globalisation of goods and services, a...

One of the objectives of Directive 2013/11/EU was to promote high-quality consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes in the EU through the creation of certification processes and regular monitoring by Member States. To obtain and keep certification, ADR bodies must continuously comply with several binding requirements set down in the Dir...

La directive européenne 2013/11/UE a contribué à généraliser et institutionnaliser la médiation de la consommation en France. Trois ans après l’entrée en vigueur du nouveau cadre réglementaire, la médiation de la consommation a connu de profonds changements sous la supervision de la Commission d’évaluation et de contrôle de la médiation de la conso...

Since the 1990s, the development of Consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution (CADR) schemes allowing consumers and traders to solve their disputes out-of-court has been an ever-growing phenomenon with increasing political importance at the European level. The EU regulatory framework for CADR started with informal measures and then evolved to more fo...

Conference registration OPEN. The conference ‘Challenge Accepted! Exploring Pathways to Civil Justice in Europe’ , that will take place in Rotterdam on 19 and 20 November is open for registration: https://lnkd.in/gwnNjXr. The conference will cover all four subthemes of the ERC consolidator research project on Building EU civil justice. Topics of d...

Justice in Europe' will take place at the Erasmus School of Law in Rotterdam (under the ERC project Building EU Civil Justice). It will focus on how (1) the use of artificial intelligence in dispute resolution, (2) the privatisation of justice and the multiplication of alternative dispute resolution schemes, (3) the increased possibility of self-re...

Dear colleagues, I am happy to let you know that the our conference ‘Challenge Accepted! Exploring Pathways to Civil Justice in Europe’, that will take place in Rotterdam on 19 and 20 November is open for registration (https://www.eur.nl/en/esl/events/challenge-accepted-exploring-pathways-civil-justice-europe-2018-11-19). Please find attached the...

In early 2018, the tortuous process towards the establishment of a framework for collective redress at the EU level reached new milestones. In January, the European Commission published its long-awaited report assessing the practical implementation of the 2013 Recommendation. As many had predicted, the Recommendation has failed to secure a consiste...

One of the key objectives of Directive 2013/11/EU (the Consumer ADR Directive) has been to promote high quality ADR entities through the creation of a certification scheme for ADR providers. In parallel, the Directive has also established a monitoring framework in which Member States' 'Competent Authorities' play pivotal roles to ensure ADR provide...

One of the key objectives of Directive 2013/11/EU (the Consumer ADR Directive) has been to promote high quality Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) entities through the creation of a certification scheme for ADR providers. In parallel, the Directive has also established a monitoring framework in which Member States’ ‘Competent Authorities’ play pi...

La Commission européenne a publié fin janvier 2018 son très attendu rapport d'évaluation de sa recommandation de juin 2013 sur les recours collectifs. Sans grande surprise, celle-ci a présenté des résultats mitigés. En France, les récents revers subis par les associations ont souligné les nombreux problèmes qui affectent aujourd'hui l'action de gro...

Après s'être développé aux États-Unis, puis lentement internationalisé, l'enseignement clinique du droit est aujourd'hui en plein essor en France. Dernièrement, le rapport sur l'avenir de la profession d'avocat remis au garde des Sceaux le 2 février 2017 par Me Haeri a appelé au développement de cliniques « dans chaque faculté de droit et au sein d...

Après les controverses suscitées par le mouvement Law and Economics en Europe ces dernières années, il est fort à parier que l’introduction des travaux d’économie comportementale (en anglais, behavioural economics) dans la pensée et la pratique juridique européenne va à son tour être la cible de nombreuses discussions et de polémiques. À ce titre,...

Mass harm situations caused by corporate misbehaviour, defective products, harmful pharmaceuticals, accidents or environmental disasters nowadays multiply and create new challenges for legal actors and society at large. In its 2013 Recommendations, the EU Commission highlighted that ‘a key role should be given to courts in protecting the rights and...

In this Paper we first discuss mass litigation from an economic perspective, followed by an overview of the Dutch collective action and the WCAM and point out their respective strengths and weaknesses. Subsequently we make a few final observations regarding the implementation of a group action in France and its extension to environmental and health...

Mass harm situations caused by corporate misbehaviour (e.g. anticompetitive practices, misleading market information), defective products, harmful pharmaceuticals, accidents or environmental disasters nowadays tend to multiply and create new challenges not only for legal actors, but also for society at large. In its 2013 Recommendations, the EU Com...

In this Paper, we discuss the two options for the resolution of mass conflicts which exist in the Netherlands from an economic perspective and argue that such an analysis yields valuable insights for the current debate in France regarding the ‘action de groupe’. The first Dutch option consists of collective litigation, where the claim however is no...

In this paper, we study judicial attitudes and decision-making in mass litigation in the light of social sciences, namely rational choice theory and behavioural economics. These insights offer complementary views that are relevant in times where judges have been assigned increased responsibilities in our societies. We notably argue that even though...

In this Paper, we discuss the two options for the resolution of mass conflicts which exist in the Netherlands from an economic perspective and argue that such an analysis yields valuable insights for the current debate in France regarding the 'action de groupe'. The first Dutch option consists of collective litigation, where the claim however is no...