This is the first systematic comparative study into how consumer ADR systems (usually ombudsmen and médiateurs) work, the differing national architectures within which they operate and how they can be improved. It describes ADR schemes in Belgium, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom as well as emerging pan-EU dispute resolution schemes. Use of the techniques of mediation, conciliation and adjudication are noted. It also covers EU measures on consumer ADR, and 2011 proposals for legislation on ADR and ODR. Data on volumes, cost and duration of ADR schemes are compared, both between different systems and with courts. The authors' findings underpin EU and national developments, and outline options for future policy. Findings and proposals are included for the functions, scope, performance, essential requirements, architecture and operation of ADR systems. The relationships between ADR, courts and regulators are discussed, and need for reforms are noted. This is a ground-breaking work that will have a major impact on European legal systems.

This is the first systematic comparative study into how consumer ADR systems (usually ombudsmen and médiateurs) work, the differing national architectures within which they operate, and how they can be improved. It describes ADR schemes in France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom as well as emerging pan-EU dispute resolution schemes.

4. THE NORDIC ADR SYSTEMS

In numerous fields of law, ranging from family law to company law, private actors increasingly set their own rules, revert to private enforcement of those rules and choose the applicable law. Within each field this tendency has already been scrutinised. Until now, however, few attempts have been made to look at these phenomena together with a view to arriving at conclusions that go beyond one specific field. This book is a first attempt to fill this gap. It is relevant for scholars and practitioners working in the individual fields of law covered (private international law, company law, family law, consumer law and commercial law) as well as for scholars and policy makers trying to grasp the overall nature of the increasing privatisation of the law.

Litigation & Civil Procedure.

Offers an account of ODR for consumers in the EU context, presenting a comprehensive investigation of the development of ODR for business to consumer disputes within the EU. This book examines the role of both the European legislator with the Mediation Directive and the English judiciary in encouraging the use of mediation.

Exploring the relationship between fundamental rights and consumer law in the EU, this book provides the first comprehensive analysis of the joint implications of the Lisbon Treaty and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It examines the potential tensions that may emerge between consumer protection objectives and economic, market-oriented goals.

A renewed attention to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) models give the cue for some observations in a comparative perspective: mediation is a good laboratory in order to observe cross-circulation of legal models for contemporary comparative law scholars. We witness here a recent convergence of Western systems and East Asian countries on ADR mechanisms which represent a typical feature of the legal tradition of the latter even with its own characteristics. Indeed, in the last decade the European Union has promoted extrajudicial forms of disputes resolution, in the first place with Directive 2008/52/EC. The two proposals of Directive on consumer ADR and Regulation on consumers Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) issued on November 2011 go farther on this track, by extending recourse to ADR models to consumer litigation. Consumer protection, a traditional policy area of the EU, represents an emerging field of law instead in the Chinese legal landscape. After scandals such as the highly debated Sanlu tainted-milk case, the Chinese Government seeks to enhance consumer protection standards. The reform draft of Chinese Consumer Law currently under discussion mandates mediation for consumers disputes as well. The two scenarios are examined in order to highlight lights and shadows of ADR with regard to consumer rights protection.

Consumer out-of-court redress in the European Union is experiencing a significant transformation; indeed the current changes are the most important that have occurred in the history of the EU. This is due to the recent implementation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Directive 2013/11/EU and the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Regulation (EU) 2013/524. The Directive ensures the availability of quality ADR schemes and sets information obligations on businesses, and the Regulation enables the resolution of consumer disputes through a pan European ODR platform. The New Regulatory Framework for Consumer Dispute Resolution examines the impact of the new EU law in the field of consumer redress. Part I of the volume examines the new European legal framework and the main methods of consumer redress, including mediation, arbitration, and ombudsman schemes. Part II analyses the implementation of the ADR Directive in nine Member States with very different legal cultures in consumer redress, namely: Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK, as well as the distinct approach taken in the US. Part III evaluates new trends in consumer ADR (CDR) by identifying best practices and looking at future trends in the field. In particular, it offers a vision of the future of CDR which is more than a mere dispute resolution tool, it poses a model on dispute system design for CDR, it examines the challenges of cross-border disputes, it proposes a strategy to promote mediation, and it identifies good practices of CDR and collective redress. The book concludes by calling for the mandatory participation of traders in CDR.

Consumer protection has become a phenomenon of the past years and the combination of consumer protection and arbitration is especially sensitive. Some countries experience tens of thousands of consumer arbitrations each year while others significantly limit or even entirely exclude arbitration in consumer disputes. Many countries have undergone certain reforms in consumer disputes, the main objective of which is the protection of consumers in arbitration. The controversial variable is the degree of protection to be afforded to the consumer, both under the applicable substantive law and in procedural terms. These are the main issues addressed in this book. Apart from the key topic, the author has extensively elaborated on certain fundamental categories such as public interest and public policy (all primarily in connection to the procedural mechanisms of consumer protection); he has also analyzed the applicable European law and the case law of the ECJ and offered an overview of the individual systems employed in both European and non-European countries (especially the USA and Canada). An integral part of this book is an extensive comparison and analysis of the voluminous case law (several tens of decisions), with reference to more than three hundred other available court decisions. The book also focuses on the position of the consumer in the individual procedural stages, the intervention of courts in arbitration motivated by consumer protection, the individual stages of proceedings, recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards rendered in consumer disputes, both in domestic context and in the international milieu etc. The international practice significantly influences the domestic environment in the individual countries. The key issue in the EU countries is, in principle, the enforcement of EU standards which influence the domestic models of consumer protection, primarily in connection with the autonomous EU interpretation of a number of institutions. Many related issues have not yet been addressed in the case law of certain states. In fact, some of them have never even been discovered. Besides, the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards requires, inter alia, the compliance with extra-EU international obligations binding on the individual states. And finally, arbitration is not regulated by the EU law, as opposed to consumer protection. Naturally, arbitration is to a significant extent regulated by international law. This results in conflicts between national, international interpretation and interpretation pursuant to the EU law, where the circumstances allow to apply the EU law. This book is intended for all readers who have any experience with enforcement of consumer rights, as well as for all professionals dealing with arbitration in general. It is therefore intended for general legal practitioners, lawyers, primarily arbitrators, of course, but also for judiciary dealing with civil matters in the broadest sense. Apart from a voluminous case law, the book quotes from a number of domestic and foreign sources and, above all, offers a long list of structured bibliography and detailed subject index, as well as a table of states, table of cases and list of legal sources. It is therefore not only an important tool for the practice, but also a useful instrument for academics (lawyers as well as other professionals).