The
ADR Directive is now fully operational in the UK. As of 1 October
2015, traders
are required to notify their consumers as to their opportunities to pursue ADR
and whether the trader chooses, or is bound, to adopt an accredited ADR process
when complaints are received. The focus of this blog is on the
early results of the new regulatory arrangement put in place by the Directive,
with a view to raising some likely issues of concern for the future.
Although
the ADR Directive is primarily a consumer law issue, the overlaps in this area with
administrative justice concerns are multiple, especially where ombudsman
schemes are concerned (eg see Walter Merricks). Not only does the work of
several accredited ADR schemes cover services which would once have been
considered as essential public services, but some of the ombudsman schemes affected
by the Directive are subject to judicial review. Moreover, in the medium term, the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (Bis) approach to encouraging
the sector will likely have an influence on the Government’s parallel efforts to upgrade the role of ADR in
the traditional public sector.
