The New Regulatory Framework for Consumer Dispute Resolution

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.

1 - The New Landscape of Consumer Redress: The European Directive on Consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Regulation on Online Dispute Resolution
2 - Developments in European Civil Procedures
3 - The Consumer Arbitration Conundrum: A Matter of Statutory Interpretation or Time for Reform?
4 - Access to court? “Encouraging” consumers to use court-connected mediation in small claims and other cases
5 - Ombudsman Schemes - Energy Sector in Germany, France, and the UK
6 - The Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive in Belgium
7 - The Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive in France
8 - The Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive in Germany
9 - The Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive and the ODR Regulation in Ireland
10 - The Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive in Italy
11 - The Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive in the Netherlands
12 - The Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive in Portugal: The Necessary Reform or Missed Opportunity?
13 - Challenges for the Implementation of the Consumer ADR Directive in Spain
14 - Regulating ADR: Lessons from the UK
15 - Consumer Redress in the United States
16 - Consumer Redress: Implementing the Vision
17 - A Dispute System Design Perspective on the Future Development of Consumer Dispute Resolution
18 - "Cross-border Consumer Redress after the ADR Directive and the ODR Regulation"
19 - New Trends of ADR in the European Union
20 - Consumer ADR and Collective Redress

Pablo Cortés is Chair in Civil Justice at the University of Leicester. He conducts research in the field of consumer law, civil procedure, ADR, and ODR. He has advised the European Commission during the drafting of the ODR Regulation and ADR Directive and has been invited to write reports and to participate in expert meetings by the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL Working Group-III ODR), the European Commission Directorate-General for Health & Consumers (DG SANCO) and Justice (DG JUST) as well as by the European Parliament Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), and the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI). Pablo serves on the advisory board of NetNeutrals and Youstice. He is a fellow of the National Centre for Technology and Dispute Resolutions (University of Massachusetts, Amherst) and in 2012 he was a Gould Research Fellow at Stanford University.