Report on the functioning of the European Online Dispute Resolution platform established under Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes

Further information:

This document complies with the obligation laid down in Article 21 of the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Regulation to report on the functioning of the ODR platform. It details the steps taken for the establishment of the ODR platform and provides the European Parliament and the Council with an overview of its first year of operation. It also describes the actions planned by the Commission to ensure the platform's continued proper functioning and to further enhance its contribution to the development of the Digital Single Market.

Background information:

Facilitating cross-border e-commerce, in particular for SMEs, and strengthening consumers' trust when shopping online is an important part of the Commission's Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy, one of the European Commission's top ten political priorities. Promoting access to efficient and effective redress mechanisms through alternative dispute resolution procedures has been identified as a way to achieve this goal.

The 2017 edition of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard shows that more and more EU consumers are shopping online and that their trust in e-commerce has increased. It is the first time consumers have expressed a strong increase in trust in buying goods and services from other EU countries. This is a significant development since a lack of trust in cross-border e-commerce has, for a number of years, been the main barrier to tapping the full potential of the DSM.

To enable easily accessible and efficient out-of-court redress for consumer disputes, including in disputes arising from cross-border e-commerce, a comprehensive legal framework on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) was adopted at EU level in 2013 and has been in place since 2016. The two legislative instruments establishing that framework are interlinked and complementary.

The ODR platform is an online platform that channels complaints to ADR bodies. Those ADR bodies have been notified to the Commission by national authorities following a positive assessment of their compliance with the quality requirements mandated in the ADR/ODR legal framework. They can therefore be trusted by both consumers and traders.

ESO: Buying online and solving disputes online: 24,000 consumers used new European platform in first year [European Commission: Press Release, 24.03.17] http://www.europeansources.info/record/buying-online-and-solving-disputes-online-24000-consumers-used-new-european-platform-in-first-year/

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