European Monetary Union -The Issues

safeguards to protect the potential plaintiffs in a class action which are not available in parens patriae litigation (405 US 251(1972)). For example, Rule 23 requires individual notice to all members of the class who can be identified through reasonable effort and a member may request to be excluded from the class. Rule 23 further protects class members by allowing the court to require that class members be provided with the following: notice of any step in the action; notice of the proposed extent of the judgment; notice of the opportunity of class members to signify whether they consider the representation fair and adequate; notice of the right to intervene and present claims or defences or otherwise come into the action. Under Rule 23, the court may also impose conditions on the parties representing the class members and may require that the pleadings be amended to eliminate allegations as to representation of absent persons.