The landscape of collective redress in Europe is quite heterogeneous. Whereas some Member States compete with each other for attracting mass damage cases for either litigation or settlement proceedings, Germany remains reluctant to implement new instruments of collective redress. The most important regulation in Germany is the Capital Market Model Case Act enacted in 2005 - the legislature's reaction to the "Deutsche Telekom" securities litigation in Frankfurt. The act was restricted to cases arising under securities regulations and was highly controversial from the outset. In November 2012, following an evaluation of the act, some moderate changes came into force. This article will present the background and some essential features of the reform. It will argue that the German government and legislator could not bring themselves to take more than another half-hearted reform step.
European Business Law Review