On Wednesday 28 September, the European Commission launched a public consultation to collect feedback before revising the rules on out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes, in order to adapt these alternative means of redress for the digital age.
Digital markets need quick and simple redress mechanisms, but consumers need fair redress, the institution emphasises.
The Commission, therefore, intends to adapt out-of-court dispute settlement procedures to the cross-border nature of digital markets and to introduce tools to enable consumers to obtain redress in case of a dispute. This modernisation of the rules would take place through the amendment of Directive 2013/11/EU.
The initiative is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.
The Commission also intends to modernise the rules on cooperation between national authorities responsible for enforcing EU consumer law, including the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC network), to strengthen their capacity to act so that consumers have the same rights online as offline.
It seeks input from all interested parties, including consumers, retailers and consumer protection organisations. The consultation results will feed into the impact studies that the EU institution will prepare.
The public consultation is open until midnight Brussels time on 21 December.
You can access it here: https://aeur.eu/f/3aa (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)