The Georgian Model of Collective Consumer Protection
The idea of consumer class actions is often associated with the American court model, where a single lawsuit protects an entire class of persons. The Georgian law on consumer rights protection chooses a different path: it establishes administrative collective redress for a violation of the rights of a group of consumers — through a decision of the Competition and Consumer Protection Agency of Georgia that addresses the whole group and obliges the trader to restore the violated right and to cease the prohibited practice. This law does not establish an American-style court class action procedure; a separate court group-litigation regime is not part of the source of this page and is not discussed here. At the same time, applying to the Agency does not deprive the consumer of the right to apply to a court or arbitration or to resolve the dispute through mediation — these routes do not exclude one another.