The consumers entities, traders, government representatives and ADR bodies participated in the meeting. Our special guest was Mrs. Róża Thun the member of European Parliament and reporter of the project on the establishment of new online dispute resolution platform (ODR – online dispute resolution).
Debate on ADR/ODR initiatives in Warsaw, 23rd March 2012
In the end of 2011 the European Commission proposed two new legal acts which should guarantee that all consumers in the EU will have the opportunity to resolve disputes without a need for court proceedings regardless of the kind of product or service concerned in the dispute.
The Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) will ensure the existence of qualified out-of-court entities considering all contract disputes between consumer and traders within 90 days. According to the regulation on online dispute resolution, the EU – wide online platform (ODR platform) will be established and it will constitute the one common access point for consumers and traders to resolve the disputes concerning online shopping in another EU member state. This common European access point will automatically send the consumer’s complaint to the competent national ADR entity and it will facilitate to resolve the dispute within 30 days.
This online dispute resolution platform is especially helpful if you buy on the Internet that is when the consumer and trader are in long distance from each other – in the other place of the country or another country. Online dispute resolution means you can lodge a complaint at home, what makes this procedure easier and enables sufficiently to save time and money. More than a half of all consumers complaints (57%) which European Consumer Centers Network received in 2011 was connected with e-commerce transactions. Unfortunately, it is still impossible to conduct the whole proceedings in the Internet.
Traders will be obliged to inform the consumers about the ADR entity competent to resolve the potential disputes in relation to them.
– The proposed amendments head for the good direction. Few consumers buy in other EU member states, but the majority of domestic traders is afraid of selling the goods to purchasers beyond Poland. According to Piotr Stańczak, Director of European Consumer Centre in Poland, it is the milestone to convince the undecided persons that it is worth buying within EU, because the actual limits disappear. The main reasons are: low – cost and effective methods to resolve the disputes without legal proceedings and the lack of legal representation costs.
What will consumers and traders benefit from?
– Consumers will get a common access to fast, effective and cheap method to resolve their disputes with traders, irrespective of kind of product or service, the way of acquisition (e.g. by Internet), and the place of purchase in the UE (state of living or abroad). The alternative dispute resolution methods usually are free of charge for parties or they are low-cost (less then 50 EUR).
– Consumers who make a purchase via Internet in other EU member state will be able to resolve their contract disputes with traders from other EU member state entirely by the Internet. It is estimated that consumers will save the equivalent of 25 billion EUR
– Access to high quality alternative dispute resolution methods will allow the traders to save up to 3 billion EUR by using ADR methods instead of going to the court as well as it will have a positive impact on their reputation.
– ODR is a way to eliminate the invisible barrier on the single market. My goal is to make consumers and traders feel safely in Internet. The Internet is a natural place to operate, to run a business and to purchase for them. Thus, it’s obvious to create tools facilitating the dispute resolution. I seek to make the European online dispute resolution platform easier in use, fast and effective as well as in mainly free of charge. The internet has no boundaries so why would they exist in online shopping? – as underlines Mrs. Róża Thun, who prepares the report on ODR in the European Parliament.
What is it alternative dispute resolution?
A neutral party takes part in alternative dispute resolutions methods (ADR) (ex. arbitrator, mediator). It is cheaper, faster and more effective solution than the legal proceedings.
Nowadays in the EU are more than 750 ADR entities. However, in some EU member states, they are available in selected districts or some branches (e.g.. financial or telecommunication services). Consumers’ and traders’ knowledge on alternative dispute resolution methods is still at low level.
When will the new legal regulations come into force?
The European Parliament and the EU Council committed themselves to accept the package of regulations to the end of 2012. Henceforth, the EU member states will have 18 months to implement the directive on ADR. That means that the high quality out-of-court ADR entities should be accessible at EU territory in the second half of 2014. The EU-wide and common platform on online dispute resolution will be fully activated on six months after this date (at the beginning of 2015), because its operation requires, where it is necessary, to create and adjust the out – of – court entities.
How are ADR methods working in a context of purchases in other EU member state?
When consumers in EU meet the difficulties with buying from trader who is located in other EU state, they can ask for help the European Consumer Center Network (ECC-Net). The ECC-Net Centers don’t resolve the disputes on their own but they help to reach amicable agreement between the parties. When it is not possible they pass the case to the different entity e.g. the competent ADR body in trader’s country – as long as this kind of entity exists. It is assumed that the ECC-Net will be the centre of communication with consumers and will offer them assistance with obtaining useful information about ODR platform.
Promotion of ADR method and ODR platform
The members of meeting agreed that consumers’ knowledge about the opportunities created by ODR platform is still at very low rate. The common information campaign will be started soon. It will be addressed to all interested in these solutions, both traders and consumers, and it will clarify ADR activity and enable to get information on the development of online ODR platform in order to counteract the very low rate of consumers knowledge. More information on this topic will be available the Róża Thun website(www.rozathun.pl), the Member of European Parliament and on the website of European Consumers Centre in Poland (www.konsument.gov.pl)
Additional information about new regulations on alternative and online dispute resolution: European Commission materials: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/adr_policy_work_en.htm
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