The European Commission (EC) has increased the likelihood of a long-predicted shift towards US-style class action litigation after unveiling proposals to boost group litigation across the EU.

The move coincides with calls by one of the UK's most influential investment bodies for its members to pursue more shareholder litigation.

Last week, the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, Meglena Kuneva, announced proposals to allow individuals from different EU member states to enter into group litigation to bolster the chances of successful claims.

The controversial proposals, unveiled in a speech to the European Parliament on 13 March, are being championed by the EC as a means to improve consumer redress at a European-wide level.

The EC initiative coincides with a call by the influential National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) last week for its members to chase more claims through the courts.

The NAPF, whose members manage £800bn in retirement savings, has also issued a paper advising trustees on how to join US-driven class actions.

The spectre of European shareholders and companies being drawn into securities litigation promises to be controversial, both for the UK legal profession and the wider business community, with critics pointing to the supposed excesses of the US plaintiff bar.

Ioannis Alexopoulos, head of litigation at DLA Piper in London, commented: "The EC proposals herald better days for consumers with coordinated alternative dispute resolution schemes, collective actions (probably through consumer organisations) and tough action against scams, so that fraudsters can no longer run for the border."

However, London Solicitors Litigation Association (LSLA) member David Greene warned: "The LSLA is in favour of effective remedies for consumers generally. Our concern is that the introduction of a class action process will bring with it the ills of the US model."

Predictions of mounting securities litigation have been fuelled by recent moves to target European investors by several of the US' best-known securities litigation specialists, with Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll last year launching a London branch.

Patrick Daniel, a partner at US class action legend Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, told Legal Week that UK investors were waking up to the opportunities to win redress through the courts.

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