In 2010, one in five European consumers encountered problems when buying goods and services in the single market. If a seller refuses to repair your laptop which broke down when under guarantee or if you cannot come to agreement with a travel agent over a refund for a ruined holiday, there are ways to sort it out without going to court.

But, unfortunately, at this stage, out-of-court dispute resolution in the EU is possible only for some business sectors or in some areas. To tackle this issue, the European Commission unveiled today a package of legislative proposals to ensure that all EU consumers can solve their problems without going to court, regardless of the kind of product or service that the contractual dispute is about, and regardless of where they bought it in the European single market (that is, at home or abroad).

ADR entities will have to meet certain quality criteria and resolve the dispute within 90 days

The Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) will ensure that quality out-of-court entities exist to deal with any contractual dispute between a consumer and a business. Under the proposal ADR entities will have to meet certain quality criteria, i.e. be well-qualified impartial, transparent, effective and fair, businesses will inform customers about the ADR entity which can deal with a potential contractual dispute with them, and ADR entities will resolve the disputes within 90 days.

EU-wide online platform will be created to facilitate the resolution of the dispute

The Regulation on Online Dispute Resolution will create a EU-wide online platform (‘ODR platform’) providing consumers and businesses with a single point of entry for resolving on-line the disputes concerning purchases made on-line in another EU-country. This single European point of entry will automatically send the consumer’s complaint to the competent national ADR entity and facilitate the resolution of the dispute within 30 days.

What is in it for consumers and businesses?

• Consumers will have access to an effective and inexpensive way of solving their disputes with traders, regardless of the goods or services that they buy, however they buy (online or offline) and wherever they buy in the EU (in their country or abroad).
• Consumers buying on-line from other EU countries will be able to solve their contractual disputes with EU traders entirely online.
• Consumer savings are estimated at about 0.2% of EU’s GDP (€22.5 billion).
• For businesses, access to alternative dispute resolution will be key to managing customer relations and enhancing corporate image, and also to save the costs of litigation.
• Increased confidence will encourage consumers to behave more actively in searching for good offers and best prices across the EU single market, thus driving competition and economic growth.