HQ Lecture

By July 2015 all EU traders must sign up to consumer ADR systems to handle consumer complaints. A pan-EU framework of consumer ADR entities is being created. There are major implications for all business sectors over choice and design of new frameworks, and ADR entities and ombudsmen.

Implementing the EU legislation is a challenge in different ways for nearly every EU Member State, whose existing consumer ADR mechanisms are almost all different and in varying stages of development. The UK’s main challenge is to try to fill the gaps in coverage (of which air travel is an important one) and to consider joining up the existing arbitration-based sectoral ADR systems and a number of ombudsmen schemes.

Consumer ADR is attractive to governments since it is not just a low cost and speedy dispute resolution mechanism (at a time in which access to justice is being restricted through legal aid cuts and other constraints) but also forms an integral part of future regulatory systems, in that links between ombudsmen and regulators have proved to be highly effective in other sectors, such as financial services and legal services. Consumer ADR needs to be taken very seriously by business sectors. If it does not work, then class actions will become commonplace. If it is designed and harnessed properly, it can assist good trading and business success - rather than hinder them. So making the right strategic choices now is vital.

Professor Hodges is the leading expert on consumer ADR systems and will explain the options for air carriers and the strategies that need to be addressed.