knowledge 1 July 2026 |

Euroconsum e.V. and Whizzbang e.V. designated as Qualified Entities under the Representative Actions Act

Their designations bring the total number of QEs in Ireland to five, joining the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, noyb — European Centre for Digital Rights, and Digital Rights Ireland.

Representative actions under the 2023 Act can only be brought by a QE acting on behalf of consumers in respect of infringements of a wide range of EU consumer protection laws identified in the 2023 Act.

Who are Euroconsum e.V. and Whizzbang e.V.?

Euroconsum e.V. and Whizzbang e.V. are non-profit consumer protection associations registered in Germany, operating within the Whizzbang network.  The organisations maintain, it appears, a broad consumer protection mandate including in relation to health and personal data.

It is reported that Euroconsum’s recent activities in Germany include, for example:

• a successful action against Lidl regional company, (Wöllstein), for violations of the “Price Indication Ordinance” which violations include excluding base price information
• successfully bringing a class action against Real Supermarket for thirty-one price labelling violations
• bringing proceedings concerning unlawful health claims in relation to food supplements
• issuing warnings to Deutsche Bahn in relation to the provision of false information to rail passengers about their rights in the event of cancellation, and to BREBAU GmbH for violations of market conduct rules, aggressive business practices and section 15 GDPR.

Whizzbang’s specific focus, it appears, relates to the concerns and interests of persons who reside, live, work or pursue an education in a country other than the country of their birth or nationality (“expats”).  Whizzbang offers advisory services to expats, operates projects with socio-economic interests and advocates for clear and uniform regulations to improve the lives of expats and consumers.  For example, Whizzbang have conducted consultations on issues ranging from price transparency, e-commerce and distance selling issues to queries on food supplement authenticity. 

What is this likely to mean for representative actions in Ireland?

As the existing QEs are focused on the privacy and digital rights space, the designation of Euroconsum e.V. and Whizzbang e.V. as QEs under the 2023 Act, with their broad consumer protection remit, may indicate that a wider range of representative actions will be brought in the future.

The 2023 Act commenced on 30 April 2024 and to date only one representative action has been brought: Irish Council for Civil Liberties CLG v Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, which was admitted to the Commercial List on 30 June 2025 and in which a trial of preliminary issues has just concluded.