NEON wishes you a Merry Christmas and a good start into the New Year!
Just in case you missed it...
The last months were again quite busy for our network. At the beginning of November, we were very proud to co-organise a regulatory roundtable with the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) and the European consumer organisation BEUC on disputes linked to bundled offers. This Autumn also saw the publication of the long-awaited European Commission report on the ADR Directiveand ODR Regulation. If you missed it, you can now catch up on it just below.
Bundled Products: Dispute Resolution and Consumer Rights Enforcement
Bundled products are different types of goods and services packaged together in one single contract. They are found within the same sector (such as the very common gas and electricity contract) but also across sectors, such as contracts offering energy supply, insurance and telecommunications services. While bundles can offer benefits to consumers, they also create new issues, especially when it comes to the protection of consumers and the enforcement of their rights. The discussions thus identified two major challenges: the first one, determining what law is applicable to the different parts of the bundle and, the second one, determining which authority is competent to handle unresolved disputes between consumers that have bought a bundle and the trader(s) selling it.
Following the event, CEER, BEUC and NEON issued a common statement to reaffirm the need for cooperation in this area. NEON also endorsed the CEER Guide on Bundled Products that was first presented at the event.
NEON Comments on Commission Report on the Application of the ADR Directive
At the end of September the European Commission published its report on the Application fo the ADR Directive and ODR Regulation. In it, the Commission recognises that ADR is still underused and lists three major problems: awareness and perceptions of ADR bodies, diverse national ADR landscapes and (limited) trader participation.
In parallel to the report, NEON published its own analysis of the main challenges facing consumer dispute resolution and specifically ADR bodies in the energy sector. Our paper is based on an internal study that seeks to determine the impact the Directive has had on publicly-mandated dispute-resolution bodies on the ground and identifies four major issues:
The lack of clarity of the certification and independence/impartiality criteria listed in the Directive;
The adverse impact the Directive has had on certain pre-existing ADR bodies and legislation;
Limited cooperation between ADR entities and enforcement authorities;