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This
conference was organised in
partnership with the
Portuguese Presidency and
formally launched the
European Extra-Judicial
Network (EEJ-Net).
The
EEJ-Net is the natural
follow-up to the 1998
Commission
Communication on "the
out-of-court settlement of
consumer disputes"
and the
notification by all member
states of their
out-of-court
bodies
complying
with
Recommendation
98/257/EC
.
The
continuing expansion of
economic activity within
the Internal Market means
more and more that
consumers' activities are
not confined to their own
country. The continued
growth of e-commerce, the
increase in travel and the
introduction of the EURO
will invariably lead to an
increase in cross border
disputes. The creation of
the EEJ-Net marks the
departure point for
providing consumers' with
more meaningful access in
cross border cases and
building consumer
confidence. If consumers'
rights are to have
practical value, mechanisms
must exist to ensure their
effective exercise. This
will be particularly
important for the
development of e-commerce
by giving consumers greater
trust in electronic
retailers associated with
out-of-court dispute
resolution schemes. It will
be a network of general
application covering any
kind of dispute over goods
and services and is
intended to ensure that
consumers can enforce their
rights through access to
simple, low cost and
effective means of
resolving cross border
disputes.
The
conference brought together
all the key players from
national authorities,
out-of-court bodies,
experts and stakeholders to
discuss and develop the
practical arrangements for
the EEJ-Net to function
efficiently and
effectively.
David
Byrne, European
Commissioner for Health and
Consumer Protection
opened the conference with
the Portuguese Secretary of
State for Consumers,
Mr
Acácio Barreiros and
Mrs Ana Palacio
Vallelersundi MEP.
Mr.
Mário Tenreiro of the
Commission provided an
overview and background to
the launching of the
EEJ-Net.
Member
States have committed
themselves to establishing
and maintaining a single
contact point (or 'Clearing
House') which the consumer
can contact, in the event of
a dispute with an enterprise,
for information and support
on making a claim to an
out-of-court dispute
resolution system in the
place where the business is
located. In particular, the
Council Resolution on a
Community-Wide network of
national bodies for the
extra-judicial settlement of
consumer disputes called on
Member States to set these
structures up. Five member
States (
Portugal
,
United
Kingdom,
Finland,
Sweden
and Spain) presented their
national perspectives for
launching the Clearing House.
In the subsequent debate a
further 5 member states
outlined their preliminary
ideas.
Mr.
Byrne, in his opening
speech outlined that a solid
financial commitment was
required from member states.
He said, "I call on them to
do this as quickly as
possible so that the network
can be completed and
consumers can start to
benefit. The Commission will,
within its limited means,
contribute to the set up
costs of such Clearing
Houses."
Three
concurrent workshops were
held dealing with
communication, procedural
and legal issues. This
offered an opportunity for
all participants to share
their varied experience in
evaluating the technical
and practical framework and
seek solutions to many of
the challenges that such a
network poses. The
Rapporteurs have prepared
three reports on these
discussions (
communication,
procedural
and legal issues).
Final
comments about the nature
of the network and the
importance of creating
confidence for consumers to
readily shop across
national borders within the
Single market were made
from both a consumer and
industry perspective by Mr
Jim Murray (BEUC),
Mr
Giacommo Regaldo
(Eurocommerce) and
Mr
Hugo Lueders
(UNICE).
The
conference was closed by
Commissioner
Antonio Vitorino and Mr
Antonio Costa, Portuguese
Minister of Justice, who
both stressed the
importance in ensuring that
citizen's had access to
Justice and the positive
role that out-of-court
dispute resolution systems
play in ensuring
this.
A clear
conclusion from the
conference is that this is
the starting point for the
network. Although a solid
consensus exists there is
now much to do to put the
practical structures in
place. The major challenge
of language still remains
and practical and workable
solutions will need to be
developed in order to
ensure the network fulfils
its purpose. A step by step
approach will be needed at
the beginning to gradual
build up the functions that
the Clearing House will be
expected to perform.
However in the initial
stages the functions will
be simple to ensure the
network is deployed without
delay. For example, a clear
focus on handling the
consumer's complaint. The
EEJ-Net is a very flexible
structure and thus over
time and with experience
will evolve encompassing
further functions. The
Commission will work
closely with the Member
States and the Council over
the coming months to
monitor the setting up of
national Clearing Houses
and develop a memorandum of
understanding to provide
some operational
guidelines. Reports on
these developments will be
made in the Consumer
Council in November
2000.
The
following documents were
distributed to conference
participants:
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