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"Table of cases cited": p. 349-358. "Statutes cited": p. 359-361. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Abstract
On 28 November 2022, the EU Commission published proposals for amendment of the Community Design Regulation (CDR) and for the recast of the Design Directive (DDir). Both proposals (in the following: PEUDR, PDDir) were preceded by reports and comprehensive consultations with interested circles. The aim of both proposals is to streamline and simplify the proceedings, enhance harmonisation, and improve the functioning of design legislation inter alia regarding novel forms of designs and reproduction technologies, providing a more robust catalogue of limitations, liberalisation of the spare parts market, and clarification of the relationship with copyright. The present article highlights the issues which are considered to be particularly important and deserving of further comments and clarifications.

It has been suggested1 that those reading this article are likely to fall into two groups: those who regard my proposition as obvious but feel that if I go on, as I evidently intend to, they will be driven to the opposite conclusion; and, on the other hand, those who take the view that my thesis can scarcely be taken seriously, but that they had better pay careful attention, just in case there is something in it.

Traditionally, consumer law has suffered from underenforcement in many countries. Reasons are, in particular, insufficient incentives or means for individual enforcement, the lack of effective collective remedies and/or insufficient resources or the lack of interest of public authorities and/or consumer organizations. Thus, even where strict rules on substantive consumer protection exist, authors diagnosed an incentive not to comply with the law.
Quite recently, the picture has changed, at least in certain sectors of business. This is mainly due to technological advancement. The use of digital technology, commonly referred to as 'legal technology' or 'legal tech', allows the legal profession to drastically increase the efficiency in handling claims. Legal tech claims management companies have been particularly successful in the area of air passengers' rights but the use of legal tech has also facilitated the mass handling of similar claims, for example, resulting from the Volkswagen diesel scandal.
This latter development led to a debate about "overenforcement". It has been argued that a massive increase in enforcement of existing consumer law may necessitate the relaxation of the substantive law standard. This article discusses the relationship between substantive consumer law and its enforcement, thereby using examples from recent case law and from the current political debate.