Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is seeking views from UK stakeholders on recent proposals from the European Commission on consumer alternative dispute resolution. In summary, the Commission argue that all EU consumers should be able to 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.

In addition, for consumers shopping online and from another EU country, the Commission want to create an EU-wide single online platform which will allow contractual disputes to be solved entirely online and within 30 days.

As the proposals are likely to impact UK consumers, businesses and organisations that currently provide alternative dispute resolution services, the Department is particularly anxious to receive views on the likely scale of these impacts. Views received will help form the UK’s negotiating position.

The consultation has been running since November 2011, and closes at the end of January 2012.

The full consultation can be found at http://www.bis.gov.uk/Consultations/call-for-evidence-eu-proposals-dispute-resolution?cat=open