Law No. 2014-1662 of December 30, 2014, containing various provisions adapting French legislation to European Union law in economic and financial matters, primarily includes provisions authorizing the government to issue ordinances in various areas, particularly regarding the settlement of disputes between professionals and consumers.
The government is thus authorized to adopt, by ordinance, measures to transpose Directive 2013/11/EU of May 21, 2013, on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes (ADR). This directive aims to harmonize and generalize ADR systems applied to the resolution of existing contractual disputes between professionals and consumers in the sale of goods or the provision of services.
The directive stipulates that dispute resolution bodies must meet qualitative requirements, particularly in terms of competence, effectiveness, and transparency. Furthermore, ADR mechanisms must be subject to monitoring and evaluation by competent bodies.
National law must be adapted to require businesses to provide consumers with prior information on the various online dispute resolution mechanisms in key commercial documents and on websites.
Finally, it should be noted that the directive must be transposed into national law by July 9, 2015.
