11 February 2016
As from 9 January 2016 all traders established within the European Union and engaging in online sales and service contracts have to provide an electronic link to the Online Dispute Resolution Platform (the ODR Platform) on their websites pursuant to EU Regulation No 534/2013 on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes (the Regulation) that came into force last year.
The ODR Platform is not yet operational since the EC postponed the start-up date to 15 February 2016. However the ODR link that must be included by online traders at their websites and must be easily accessible was published by the Commission in mid January – http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. In addition to the link the traders should provide their email address on their websites. This information should be included in e-mails that contain a commercial offer to consumers and should be provided in the general terms and conditions of the traders applicable to online sales and service contracts.
The Regulation and Directive 2013/11/EU (the ADR Directive) were implemented in Bulgarian Law on Protection of Consumers last year and Consumers Protection Commission created authorized ADR entities.
The requirement to link to the ODR Platform is mandatory for online traders. The participation and registration to an ADR entity is not obligatory.
New European rules should contribute to consumer protection by providing more simple, efficient and low cost ways of resolving domestic and cross-border disputes arising from sales or service contracts.