This book examines the impact of the new EU law in the field of consumer redress. It explores the new European legal framework and the main methods of consumer redress, analyses the implementation of the ADR Directive in various Member States, and evaluates new trends in consumer ADR.

This concluding chapter calls for ensuring the effective provision of consumer ADR (CADR) by making the requirement of CADR mandatory in a number of sectors where there is a high demand for CADR and to set up an effective residual forum to ensure full coverage. The residual forum can be housed in a tribunal or in a much improved small claims court - it is argued that both of these options should incorporate CADR techniques and be accessible online. Another option, and one that may be less costly and more user-friendly (and thus preferred by consumers), would be the creation of a residual CADR entity with mandatory jurisdiction. The chapter then examines the main arguments against a mandatory CADR scheme, such as the argument of floodgates of complaints driving costs up for traders, the difficulties of enforcing outcomes with reluctant traders, and the restriction to the court and thus access to justice. Lastly this chapter briefly considers a number of dispute design options that policymakers should take into consideration when improving the CADR landscape.

This book advances the emerging of a new sub-field of study, the law of consumer redress, which encompasses the various dispute resolution processes for consumers, their regulations, and best practices. The book argues that the institutionalisation of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies are expanding their functions beyond dispute resolution, as they are increasingly providing a public service for consumers that complements, and often replaces, the role of the courts. Although the book focuses on ADR, it also analyses other redress methods, including public enforcement, court adjudication and business internal complaints systems. It proposes a more efficient rationalisation of certified redress bodies, which should be better co-ordinated and accessible through technological means. Accordingly, the book calls for greater integration amongst redress methods and offers recommendations to improve their process design to ensure that, inter alia, traders are encouraged to participate in redress schemes, settle early meritorious claims and comply with outcomes.

This book proposes a principled approach to the regulation of dispute resolution. It covers dispute resolution mechanisms in all their varieties, including negotiation, mediation, conciliation, expert opinion, mini-trial, ombud procedures, arbitration and court adjudication. The authors present a transnational Guide for Regulating Dispute Resolution (GRDR). The regulatory principles contained in this Guide are based on a functional taxonomy of dispute resolution mechanisms, an open normative framework and a modular structure of regulatory topics. The Guide for Regulating Dispute Resolution is formulated and commented upon in a concise manner to assist legislators, policy-makers, professional associations, practitioners and academics in thinking about which solutions best suit local and regional circumstances. The aim of this book is to contribute to the understanding and development of the legal framework governing national and international dispute resolution. Theory, empirical research and regulatory models have been taken from the wealth of experience in 12 jurisdictions: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United States of America. Experts with a background in academia, practice and law-making describe and analyse the regulatory framework and social reality of dispute resolution in these countries. On this basis the authors draw conclusions about policy choices, regulatory strategies and the practice of conflict resolution. This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's International Arbitration online service.

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.

Since the 1990s, the development of Consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution (CADR) schemes allowing consumers and traders to solve their disputes out-of-court has been an ever-growing phenomenon with increasing political importance at the European level. The EU regulatory framework for CADR started with informal measures and then evolved to more formal rules. Directive 2013/11/EU (the Consumer ADR Directive) has established a new regulatory framework with the intent to develop high-quality CADR schemes and to promote trust and confidence among consumers and traders. National 'Competent Authorities' are in charge of reviewing the quality of CADR providers and ensure that the quality requirements are met on an ongoing basis. This paper investigates the impact of the Consumer ADR Directive at Member States level, and more specifically uses Belgium as a case study. It notably builds on an online survey completed in Winter/Spring 2018 by the Belgian Competent Authority. The objectives of the paper are threefold: it explores how quality criteria have been working in practice in Belgium, it sheds some light on several persisting issues, and finally tries to look to the future by proposing some policy recommendations aimed at further strengthening the Belgian framework for high-quality CADR.

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.

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.