SUMMARY

Growing interest is being shown in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the European Union, for three main reasons.
First, there has been the increasing awareness of ADR as a means of improving general access to justice in everyday life.
Second, ADR has received close attention from the Member States, many of which have passed legislation encouraging it.
Third, ADR is a political priority, repeatedly declared by the European Union institutions, whose task it is to promote these alternative techniques, to ensure an environment propitious to their development and to do what it can to guarantee quality. This political priority was specifically asserted in the context of the information society, where the role of new on-line dispute resolution (ODR) services has been recognised as a form of web-based cross-border dispute resolution.
This specific context explains the background to the political mandate for the preparation of this Green Paper. The Council asked the Commission to prepare a Green Paper taking stock of the current situation and launching broad consultations on the measures to be taken.
This Green Paper is an opportunity to familiarise the broadest possible public with ADR facilities and also to make the initiatives taken by the Member States and the Community more highly visible.
The purpose of consulting the public on the Green Paper is to ascertain the general opinion of all circles concerned and their reactions to the question put here.
These questions are primarily legal and concern the salient features of ADR processes such as ADR clauses in contracts, limitation periods, confidentiality constraints, the validity of consent given, the effectiveness of agreements generated by ADR processes, the training of third parties, their accreditation and the rules governing their liability.
The Commission plans to consider the views expressed as input for defining the general lines of its own policy to be conducted in the years ahead in its role as promoter of legislative and operational initiatives.

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