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Dr. Ecommerce:

Do you know the relationship between the following?

1. Proposed E-Commerce directive which includes provisions for out of court dispute resolution for e-commerce disputes.

2. Proposed EEJ-net for dispute resolution of consumer disputes generally (whether e-commerce related or not).

Both systems plan to use out of court bodies which have the same set of minimum procedural requirements.

Therefore the same out of court bodies will apply to both systems. Do you know who I can ask about the relationship between these 2 systems.

Thanks in advance

Steve Johnson.

Dear Steve:

Alternative dispute resolution systems are very sexy these days and everyone is talking about them. Indeed, they are also mentioned in the Brussels convention. As you are aware, the directive (particularly Article 17) only mentions that member states should not hamper the use of out of court schemes and should "encourage bodies responsible for the out-of-court settlement of, in particular, consumer disputes to operate in a way which provides adequate procedural guarantees for the parties concerned."

The EEJ-Net is a network of such out of court dispute settlement organisations and so could in part fulfil the requirements of the directive. You can find information on the EEJ-NET at the Health and Consumer Directorate General's web pages.

By the way, I'm not a lawyer. You at least are writing from a law firm, so I suggest you look at the relevant documents yourself!

All the best,

Dr. Ecommerce