Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-02-Speech-1-058"
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"en.20010702.6.1-058"2
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". – Mr. President, I am not only an advocate but a convinced advocate of the benefits of arbitration. This largely comes from my experience of legal practice, both in the area of domestic law in my own Member State and in the area of international commercial arbitration. I had the honour of being a member the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce for seven years, and drafted the last piece of legislation in my own Member State on International Commercial Arbitration, so I am a convinced advocate of the benefits of arbitration, as distinct from court procedures.
Therefore, I believe that the establishment of the EEJ Net is an essential step in ensuring that consumers have practical access to simple, low-cost and effective means of resolving cross-border disputes. It is the natural follow-up to the 1998 Commission communication on access to justice and the notification by Member States of their out-of-court bodies applying the principles set out in Recommendation 98/257. In addition, this is a significant step forward in fulfilling the Tampere Council conclusions in providing better access to justice in Europe.
The continuing expansion of economic activity within the internal market means more and more that consumers' activities are not confined to their own country. The continued growth of e-commerce, coupled with the introduction of the euro, underlines the urgency of the need to actively promote consumer confidence to ensure a truly competitive and effective internal market. The involvement and support of all the Community institutions, including the European Parliament, is essential to raise the profile of this initiative and to ensure its effective delivery and to guarantee its eventual success. Member States, in close cooperation with the Commission, have already made substantial progress since this initiative was proposed in March last year.
All, with the exception of Germany, have now informed the Commission of the body that will perform the functions of their national clearing-house and the process of setting up these bodies is under way. The Commission is providing financial assistance for the start-up costs and will examine how best to provide further infrastructure and targeted support. In addition, both Norway and Iceland have expressed their wish to participate and have been attending meetings with Member States' experts and with the Commission.
We are also examining how best the enlargement candidate countries can be brought into the network. Much work has been completed with Member States' experts and with wider stakeholders to turn the network into a successfully functioning reality. In particular, one result of this work has been a Memorandum of Understanding, setting out the minimum functions and operational guidelines for the clearing-houses, which is now close to finalisation.
This document marks an important step in ensuring coherent cooperation throughout the network. It includes requirements for the provision of practical information and advice to be given to consumers, a general system for complaint handling, based on the European Complaint Forum, its translation, and monitoring to ensure the network operates efficiently, the requirement for either the clearing-house or the national authority to make practical arrangements with national ADRs to ensure smooth cooperation and the need to monitor their compliance with the principles in the Commission recommendation. Network cooperation is envisaged through regular meetings, the development of network strategies and continual review of the network to ensure constant improvement. Uniform methods for collecting data on the performance of the network, for its evaluation and to identify specific consumer problems are also part of the plan.
The group of Member State experts meets tomorrow to finalise these details. It is also provisionally agreed that the network should become operational on the 16 October of this year. This coincides with the launch in Belgium of their Euroguichet, which will act as the clearing-house, and with the Annual General Assembly of the Consumer Associations that takes place on 18 and 19 October. I see the EEJ Net initiative as a priority. It is an essential component of a number of initiatives currently being developed by the Commission aimed at creating confidence to enable consumers to actively take part in and benefit from the internal market. It will also be important for businesses in facilitating greater cross-border trade, particularly of course, for SMEs.
It will put the practical framework in place to allow the ADRs' potential for resolving cross-border disputes to be fully exploited. The organic nature of this framework will enable it to be sufficiently flexible and adaptable to meet new challenges and be kept under constant review to ensure the delivery of an effective mechanism for all citizens and for the effective operation of the internal market."@en1
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