ADR & ODR in Belgium Prof. Dr. Stefaan Voet Associate Professor of Law University of Leuven Leicester, 11 September 2015

Consumer Dispute Resolution: Three-Tiered Approach

• LITIGATION: Act of 28 March 2014 Introducing a

Consumer Collective Redress Action in the Code of Economic Law

• ADR: Act of 4 April 2014 Regarding the Out-of-Court Resolution of Consumer Disputes (implementation of the 2013 ADR Directive)

• ODR: National ODR platform: Belmed (launched in 2011)

http://belmed.fgov.be

NUMBER OF BELMED VISITORS (INFORMATION PART)

2012 42.375 2013 73.520 2014 85.648 2015 (till 25 July) 53.158

total number of request (2011 – August 2015): 665 in non-covered sectors: 262 (39%) in covered sectors: 403 (61%) still pending: 52 closed: 351 rejected: 154 stopped by the applicant: 138 agreement: 28 no agreement: 14 simple advice: 17

Bottlenecks

• Consumer Mediation Service: • structure – failed opportunity • only mediation …

• no integration Consumer Mediation Service & Belmed

• Belmed: • low rate of ODR applications • layout, functionality, user-friendliness

integration of ADR, ODR, regulatory enforcement & litigation

Stefaan.Voet@law.kuleuven.be