Article 5 › 4

Member States may, at their discretion, permit ADR entities to maintain and introduce procedural rules that allow them to refuse to deal with a given dispute on the grounds that: (a) the consumer did not attempt to contact the trader concerned in order to discuss his complaint and seek, as a first step, to resolve the matter directly with the trader; (b) the dispute is frivolous or vexatious; (c) the dispute is being or has previously been considered by another ADR entity or by a court; (d) the value of the claim falls below or above a pre-specified monetary threshold; (e) the consumer has not submitted the complaint to the ADR entity within a pre-specified time limit, which shall not be set at less than one year from the date upon which the consumer submitted the complaint to the trader; (f) dealing with such a type of dispute would otherwise seriously impair the effective operation of the ADR entity. Where, in accordance with its procedural rules, an ADR entity is unable to consider a dispute that has been submitted to it, that ADR entity shall provide both parties with a reasoned explanation of the grounds for not considering the dispute within three weeks of receiving the complaint file. Such procedural rules shall not significantly impair consumers’ access to ADR procedures, including in the case of cross-border disputes.

1 national measure recorded under this provision, in 1 form — sign in to view the analysis.

← 3 · All articles · 5 →

Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-07-30