Consumer-to-business dispute resolution: the power of CADR
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Consumer-to-business dispute resolution: the power of CADR Christopher Hodges · Iris Benöhr · Naomi Creutzfeldt-Banda
Published online: 20 July 2012 © ERA 2012
Abstract This paper summarises the findings of a study of CADR bodies in ten European Member States (Hodges C, Benöhr I, Creutzfeldt-Banda N in Consumer ADR in Europe. Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2012). It first notes the distinct nature of CADR bodies that have emerged, explains the architecture of national CADR systems, notes various empirical findings about how they operate, and then critically examines a series of important issues that arise over their modes of operation. It ends by considering the potential of CADR to deliver collective redress and to deliver behaviour control of traders, thereby acting as part of the regulatory system. Keywords Consumer-to-business dispute resolution · National CADR schemes · Collective redress
1 The Commission’s proposals on consumer ADR On 29 November 2011 the European Commission adopted a Communication and two legislative proposals on consumer ADR (alternative dispute resolution) and ODR
All Authors are members of the CMS Research Programme on Civil Justice Systems, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford; C. Hodges is also Erasmus Professor of the Fundamentals of Private Law, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. C. Hodges was speaker at the Annual Conference on European Consumer Law 2011, organised by ERA on 13 October 2011 in Trier. C. Hodges (B) · I. Benöhr · N. Creutzfeldt-Banda CMS Research Programme on Civil Justice Systems, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK e-mail: [email protected]
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(online dispute resolution).1 These proposals represent developments of fundamental importance for a number of reasons. Firstly, the approach to the resolution of consumerto-business (C2B) disputes that is adopted is distinctive and will seem new and surprising to many people. It involves resolving disputes through specific consumer ADR (CADR) structures, instead of courts or other methods. CADR mechanisms have grown into an established phenomenon that has significant size and potential. Like Cinderella their sudden emergence into the spotlight may be startling. Secondly, the potential of CADR mechanisms lies in their ability to deliver both increased consumer protection but also behavioural consequences for markets and traders, with great efficiency, low cost and swift results. CADR, when designed and operated properly, has the power to transform existing dispute resolution and regulatory systems, and to form a distinctive and effective European approach.
2 The distinct world of CADR ADR is not new. It has existed in traditional communities for many centuries.2 It has taken a high profile within some civil procedure systems in the past one or two decades. In England and Wales, for example, ADR was given an institutional and functionally important position within civil procedure as a result of the Woolf reforms of 1996,3 implemen
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