Collective Actions Against Entrepreneurs: Why a Consumer Dispute May No Longer Be Only an Individual Problem

29. 05. 2026

As of 1 July 2024, Act No. 179/2024 Coll., on Collective Civil Court Proceedings, has been effective in the Czech legal system. This Act makes it possible to hear similar claims of multiple consumers against a single entrepreneur within one court proceeding. The Ministry of Justice has also pointed out that the first collective actions may be filed with the Municipal Court in Prague, and that this new procedural instrument follows the European framework for representative actions protecting the collective interests of consumers.

For entrepreneurs, this represents a significant change in the legal environment. In the past, it was often the case that if the value of an individual consumer claim was relatively low, the consumer would not initiate court proceedings at all. It was not economically worthwhile, the dispute was time-consuming, and the costs could exceed the value of the claim being asserted. Collective proceedings change this logic. They make it possible to combine similar claims of multiple consumers and turn otherwise minor individual disputes into legally and economically significant litigation.

From a practical perspective, collective actions may concern, in particular, e-shops, providers of digital services, financial products, travel services, energy services, telecommunications, subscriptions, complaint-handling processes, or terms and conditions. At the same time, the risk for entrepreneurs does not arise only where the law has been intentionally breached. Long-term use of contractual documentation, inaccurate price communication, improperly set complaint procedures, automatic renewal of services, unclear cancellation policies, or a business model based on repeated minor interference with the rights of a larger number of customers may also be problematic.

It is important to note that a collective action cannot be filed by just anyone. According to information from the Ministry of Justice, collective actions and actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers may be filed only by pre-vetted non-profit entities registered on the relevant Czech or European list of qualified entities. This does not, however, mean that entrepreneurs can underestimate the risk. Once a particular problem begins to recur among a larger group of customers, it may become the subject of interest of a consumer organisation and subsequently of court proceedings.

Prevention is therefore essential for entrepreneurs. It is not sufficient to have terms and conditions merely as a matter of form. It is necessary to regularly verify whether they comply with the current legal framework, whether they are not unfair to consumers, whether the customer receives sufficient information before concluding the contract, and whether complaint-handling and retention processes are not set up in a way that could be assessed as systematically problematic.

Documentation of internal processes is also of particular importance. If an entrepreneur receives repeated complaints about the same issue, they should be able to demonstrate how they assessed them, whether they remedied the situation, how they communicated with customers, and whether they amended their terms and conditions or internal procedures. Ignoring repeated complaints may appear highly unfavourable in the future, especially if the entrepreneur later claims that they were unaware of the problem.

In conclusion, collective actions do not represent only a new procedural instrument for consumers, but also a new type of risk for entrepreneurs. Companies that work with a larger number of customers should pay increased attention to their terms and conditions, complaint rules, price communication, automatic payments, subscriptions, and customer complaints. In the era of collective actions, a recurring minor problem may no longer be merely a customer support cost, but a potential basis for broader litigation.

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