Legislative Possibility of Filing Collective Actions in Ukraine

Introduction

The possibility of filing collective or group actions has existed in Ukraine’s national procedural legislation since 2011, when the right to file claims for the protection of the rights and interests of an indefinite circle of persons was first introduced.

Such claims represent a form of group litigation – a procedural mechanism recognised in global legal practice as an effective tool for protecting the rights and interests of a large number of individuals harmed by the actions or omissions of a single defendant.

Group litigation enhances access to justice, promotes procedural economy, ensures the uniformity of judicial practice, and deters unlawful conduct.

At present, Ukrainian legislation provides several legal bases that allow initiating claims aimed at protecting the rights of an indefinite circle of persons simultaneously.

Existing legal mechanisms

Consumer protection

Under Article 25 of the Law of Ukraine “on Consumer Protection”, consumer associations are entitled to bring actions before the court in the interests of an indefinite number of consumers.

Environmental collective claims

Citizens and environmental organisations may request that the court eliminate hazards or terminate activities that endanger the environment or human health.

The right derives from the Constitution of Ukraine, the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Aarhus Convention, and the Law of Ukraine “on Environmental Protection”.

Advertising

Under Article 27 of the Law of Ukraine “on Advertising”, state authorities may seek a ban on unlawful advertising or its public retraction.

Protection of local communities

Pursuant to Article 42 of the Law of Ukraine “on Local Self-Government in Ukraine”, mayors of towns, villages, and settlements may file claims challenging illegal acts of other public authorities or enterprises that violate the rights or interests of the local community.

Practical absence of collective actions and the “work-around” via NGOs

Despite the existence of scattered provisions allowing for the protection of an indefinite circle of persons – particularly in consumer and environmental law – these mechanisms have not been effectively implemented in practice.

In reality, collective protection of rights in Ukraine has been exercised through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) acting as representatives of their members in court proceedings.

A landmark example is the decision of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court dated 15 June 2021 in case No 904/6125/20 (proceeding No 12-27гс21).

The Court held that an environmental NGO, acting on behalf of its members, had lawfully brought a claim seeking compensation for damage caused by the economic activities of several enterprises. The Court confirmed that the NGO had properly exercised its representative function in protecting the environmental rights of individuals, even in the absence of an explicit collective-action framework.

Another illustrative example demonstrating the development of this area is a case currently being handled by Miller Law Firm.

Acting on behalf of a public organisation representing the interests of local residents, the firm is challenging the decisions of the Zaporizhzhia City Council that amended the urban development documentation, as a result of which LLC “Land Development” obtained a permit to construct a shopping and entertainment complex on the territory of a municipal park.

As a consequence of these decisions, more than 500 century-old trees were removed, causing significant ecological harm to the community.

To substantiate the violation of residents’ rights and to assess the damages caused to the community, the case involved – for the first time in Ukraine – a study of ecosystem services, which evaluated the monetary value of natural functions such as air purification, surface temperature reduction, carbon storage, and microclimate regulation.

This study created a unique evidentiary approach for assessing damage to environmental assets provided by urban green areas.

Regardless of the final judgment, the case is precedent-setting for Ukraine, as it concerns the rights of an entire city’s residents and establishes a new model for the protection of collective environmental interests.

Thus, for many years, the institution of collective action in Ukraine existed only indirectly, through the creation of NGOs whose statutory purpose included the judicial protection of rights and public interests.

Legislative reform: towards a European model

In late August 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine introduced the Draft Law “on the Protection of Collective Interests of Consumers”. The bill is one of the legislative initiatives designed to align Ukrainian law with EU standards; however, it goes beyond formal harmonisation.

It introduces into Ukrainian procedural law a new concept of representative action, which in essence is a form of collective action. Its primary goal is to shift the focus from the protection of individual consumer rights to the protection of collective consumer interests.

The purpose of the Draft Law is to implement Directive (EU) 2020/1828 on representative actions for the protection of collective interests of consumers, which establishes the European standard for this type of claim.

Ukraine is not starting this journey from scratch. Across the European Union, the institution of collective redress has developed gradually, offering valuable insights for the implementation of collective litigation mechanisms in Ukraine.

Poland adopted its Act on Group Proceedings as early as 2010, initially focusing on consumer disputes.

France introduced the action de groupe in 2014, while the Netherlands enacted the WAMCA (Act on Collective Damages Claims) in 2019, creating one of the most comprehensive frameworks in Europe.

A common feature of all of these jurisdictions is the “start narrow, then expand” approach – beginning with consumer protection and gradually extending to areas such as competition, financial services, and environmental law.

Importantly, the bill limits representative actions to consumer protection cases, meaning claims brought on behalf of individuals who acquire, order or use products for personal needs unrelated to business activities or employment.

While preserving the existing remedies (contractual and non-contractual), the bill emphasises that representative actions complement rather than replace the individual means of judicial protection available to consumers.

Key trends embedded in the Draft Law

Shift from individual to collective judicial protection

Ukrainian legislation is moving away from individual claims toward mechanisms that enable the protection of rights for large groups of people.

The Draft Law introduces a collective action framework allowing claims to be filed on behalf of groups of consumers or other persons whose rights have been violated – ensuring that a single decision may affect many.

Harmonisation with European standards

The Draft Law has been built around Directive (EU) 2020/1828. Ukraine aims to establish a group-litigation mechanism similar to those operating across the EU, including cross-border representative actions when violations affect consumers in several countries.

Enhanced role of “qualified entities” as group representatives

Only non-profit organisations with at least one year of proven experience in consumer protection and independent from commercial entities will be eligible to act as representatives of affected consumer groups.

Such organisations will be selected and registered by the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, ensuring that only competent and credible entities bring actions to court.

Opt-in and opt-out models

The bill provides both participation options.

Consumers may either consent to be represented in the collective action (opt-in) or withdraw and pursue individual litigation (opt-out).

This flexibility aligns Ukraine with modern European procedural approaches.

Expansion of substantive scope

Representative actions may address both undefined groups of consumers (eg, misleading advertising) and identified groups (eg, mass poisoning incidents).

The mechanism thus covers a broad range of situations – from systemic unfair commercial practices to cases involving collective harm to health.

Transparency and consumer information

Qualified organisations will be obliged to inform consumers at each stage of proceedings – filing, trial progress, and final outcomes – promoting public trust and accountability.

Reducing court workload and increasing efficiency

The introduction of representative actions is expected to save time and costs for consumers and significantly reduce the number of repetitive individual claims. This reflects a broader trend towards optimising judicial resources and enhancing public confidence in the legal system.

Overall, the draft law represents a new level of regulatory development, bringing Ukraine closer to the European model. It seeks to strike a balance between protecting consumers and ensuring predictability for businesses, offering clear rules for compliant companies and systemic liability for those violating consumer rights.

Implementation challenges

The success of the new mechanism will depend on three fundamental factors.

1. Judicial practice.

How Ukrainian courts interpret the notion of “collective interest” and determine the admissibility and procedural scope of representative actions will shape the effectiveness of the reform.

2. Institutional capacity of qualified representative organisations.

Whether or not such entities can efficiently perform their role as procedural representatives of consumer groups possessing the necessary expertise, resources, and public trust, will be decisive.

3. Information transparency.

The creation of an effective notification system for potential participants will be essential to ensure openness and genuine access to justice.

Prospects: building a culture of collective protection

Ukraine has all the prerequisites to transform the institution of collective actions into a practical instrument of public control and justice restoration in the coming years. This evolution goes far beyond procedural reform – it marks a shift in legal culture.

Collective action is not merely a tool for overcoming judicial inefficiency; it is a mechanism of democratisation of justice, empowering citizens to influence systemic issues. It also sends a strong message to business: corporate responsibility and compliance with standards are no longer ethical aspirations but legal imperatives.

Nevertheless, several challenges remain.

• Risk of formalism – qualified organisations may exist only “on paper” without meaningful activity.
• Financing mechanisms – in most EU countries, representative actions are funded through dedicated funds or third-party funding models, whereas in Ukraine this infrastructure still needs to be developed.
• Professional expertise – these cases require a rare combination of civil, commercial, and administrative procedural knowledge, alongside strategic litigation skills to prove systemic violations.

At the same time, these very challenges create opportunities for the Ukrainian legal community to lead the transformation. Law firms and litigators have a crucial role to play from designing litigation strategies to participating in pilot cases that will establish the first judicial precedents in this emerging field.

Judicial readiness and expected impact on litigation practice

The introduction of representative actions will inevitably transform Ukraine’s established litigation landscape. Alongside legislative reform, the judiciary must practically and procedurally prepare for the emergence of an entirely new category of cases.

First and foremost, courts will need to develop unified approaches to procedural issues that have no equivalent in traditional litigation including the identification of the claimant group, the admissibility of collective evidence, mechanisms for notifying affected individuals, and the allocation of court-determined compensation. To ensure consistency and predictability, methodological guidelines or Supreme Court recommendations will be necessary, similar to those issued during past reforms in bankruptcy and administrative justice.

Furthermore, new procedural realities will require special tools such as group notifications, joint expert opinions, and digital communication formats between courts and group members. These developments will drive further digitalisation of judicial processes while also raising expectations for case management in complex, multi-party litigation.

For businesses, this represents a new compliance domain: collective actions will pose not only financial but also reputational risks. Industries with a high degree of consumer interaction – retail, financial services, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals – should proactively integrate collective litigation risk into their corporate governance and compliance systems.

Prospects for collective litigation beyond consumer protection

Although the current draft law is limited to consumer protection, the potential to expand collective actions into other legal sectors is evident. The most natural extension will be environmental disputes cases involving industrial emissions, waste management and public health impacts.

The financial services sector may follow, as representative actions could serve as an effective tool to address systemic misconduct by banks or insurance companies.

With the rapid growth of the digital economy, data protection and cybersecurity are becoming increasingly relevant areas where collective actions could provide a mechanism for responding to mass violations.

Other promising fields include energy, telecommunications, and housing and utilities, where citizens often face collective infringements of their rights.

In the medium term, Ukraine is poised to develop a multi-sector system of collective judicial protection, following the European trajectory from consumer cases toward broader public-interest regulation.

Conclusion

Ukraine is moving from isolated legal provisions and sporadic judicial decisions towards a comprehensive European-style institution of representative (collective) actions.

This evolution is not a mere technical transposition of EU directives but a transformation of justice philosophy from individual protection to shared responsibility and collective influence over systemic issues.

The years following the adoption of the new law will be decisive. During this period, judicial practice will determine whether collective action becomes a genuine legal instrument or remains a declarative concept.

Those practitioners and organisations already working with mass disputes, consumer rights, and environmental claims, are laying the foundation for the future of Ukrainian collective justice. Their efforts will define whether or not Ukraine’s emerging representative-action system evolves into a new standard of access to justice aligned with European legal culture.