German gov't struggle to agree on new consumer rights legislation

BERLIN, April 18 (Xinhua) -- The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and German Social Democrats (SPD) parties participating in Germany's "grand coalition" have become embroiled in a row over new consumer rights legislation on Wednesday.

Talking to the newspaper "Handelsblatt", SPD legal policy spokesperson Johannes Fechner accused the CDU/CSU of preventing reforms which would make it easier for large groups of consumers to file class action lawsuits together, for example in the ongoing car emissions scandal "dieselgate".

"The CDU/CSU are blocking the legislative process with regards to the question of the right to bring proceedings and are hence endangering the timetable (for reforms)," Fechner complained.

Fechner said that it was unclear to him where the need for additional discussion arose in the CDU/CSU given that the topic had already been enshrined in the "grand coalition" agreement. In the document, the CDU, CSU and SPD vowed to create a new legal mechanism by Nov. 1, 2018 to ensure to consumers could bring collective action against German carmakers accused of emissions-cheating practices like Volkswagen before the lapse of related limitation periods.

The key point of remaining disagreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD is over which types of parties would be allowed to launch so-called "template lawsuits" covering the basic claims of a large group of plaintiffs. The coalition agreement reserves this right to "qualified institutions" like consumer protection groups which would clarify fundamental legal questions in court before consumers pursued their related individual claims in a separate process.

According to media reports on Wednesday, however, the CDU and CSU are now keen to impose stricter limits on what kind of organizations would be considered as "qualified". CDU/CSU legal policy spokesperson Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker told the press that it was "important that a new market was not created for large legal practices or associations with a business model focused on issuing warning letters."

Winkelmeier-Becker accused SPD justice minister Katarina Barley of being responsible for delaying legislative changes and insisted that the CDU/CSU were still committed to meeting the November deadline. Both the SPD and CDU/CSU factions in the dispute have announced the desire to reach a preliminary cabinet decision on the issue by the end of April. Enditem