The common position largely takes over the Commission's amended proposal and hence Parliament's
amendments accepted by the Commission.
The most important point of divergence between the amended proposal and the common position
concerns the scope of the proposed Directive, to the extent that the reference to companies' interests
has been deleted; instead the common position focuses exclusively on protecting the collective
interests of consumers.
The Council has made provision for the collective interests of persons exercising a commercial,
industrial, craft or professional activity to be re-examined no later than five years after the entry into
force of the Directive.
A further difference which should be mentioned is that the common position has not specifically
taken into account the possibility for European organizations and/or federations to act as qualified
entities.
The common position also stipulates the scope of intra-Community infringements: a simplification
has been introduced by deleting the initially proposed text concerning the document certifying the
right of a qualified entity to bring proceedings before competent courts or authorities. According to
the common position, it is sufficient for the Commission, once the Member States have informed
it of the name and purpose of their national qualified entities, to draw up a list of such entities,
which will be published in the Official Journal. The courts and administrative bodies must accept
this list as proof of the legal capacity of the qualified entity without prejudice to their right to
examine whether the purpose of the qualified entity justifies its taking action in a specific case.
Another point to note is that the question of the law applicable is covered with reference to private
international law. The applicable law should therefore normally be either the law of the Member
State where the infringement originated or the law of the Member State where it has its effects.
Finally, the Council would like the Directive to be implemented within a period of 30 months.
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