European Parliament resolution on action taken on the Community policy on out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes (recommendation 98/257/EC and conclusions of the Tampere European Council) (SEC(2000) 405 - 2000/2209(INI))
Date: 2001-07-03
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European Commission, civil proceedings, consumer protection, consumption

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5. Article 1(2) of Directive 84/5/EEC is amended as follows:

Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the amount insured in the context of
compulsory motor vehicle insurance is at least € 2 000 000. The Commission shall put in place a mech-
anism to ensure that the monetary amount specified in Article 1(2) of Directive 84/5/EEC is adjusted
periodically, taking into account the rate of inflation determined by the European Central Bank and other
relevant factors.

Member States may provide for a higher amount insured.

6. Article 4(b) of Directive 72/166/EEC as amended by Article 4 of Directive 84/5/EEC is deleted.

In Article 1(4) of Directive 72/166/EEC as amended by Article 4 of Directive 84/5/EEC, insert a second

7.
indent:

(cid:129) if a vehicle of the category mentioned above bears no plates or plates not or no longer legally issued

to it, the territory of the State in which the claim arose.

8. The second sentence of Article 12a(4)(4) of Directive 88/357/EEC, inserted by Article 6 of Directive
90/618/EEC ((cid:145)The appointee shall not take up the business of direct insurance on behalf of the said under-
taking(cid:146)) is deleted.

9. By way of derogation from Article 2(d) of Directive 88/357/EEC, an insurer may, for a maximum
period of 30 days, provide insurance for a vehicle registered in one Member State and purchased by a
person with a permanent residence in another Member State, provided there is an intention to re-register
the vehicle in the Member State of the person(cid:146)s permanent residence.

9. Out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes

A5-0134/2001

European Parliament resolution on action taken on the Community policy on out-of-court settle-
ment of consumer disputes (recommendation 98/257/EC and conclusions of the Tampere Euro-
pean Council) (SEC(2000) 405 (cid:129) 2000/2209(INI))

The European Parliament,

(cid:129) having regard to the Commission working document on the creation of a European Extra-Judicial

Network (EEJ-Net) (SEC(2000) 405),

(cid:129) having regard to Article 155 of the EC Treaty,

(cid:129) having regard to Commission Recommendation 98/257/EC of 30 March 1998 on the principles appli-

cable to the bodies responsible for out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes (1),

(cid:129) having regard to the Commission(cid:146)s 1998 communication on the out-of-court settlement of consumer

disputes (COM(1998) 198),

(cid:129) having regard to Rule 163 of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:129) having regard to the report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (A5-0134/

2001),

A. whereas, in its conclusions approved by the Consumer Affairs Council of 25 November 1996, the
Council emphasised the need to boost consumer confidence in the functioning of the Internal Market
and consumers(cid:146) scope for taking full advantage of the possibilities offered by the Internal Market,
including the possibility for consumers to settle disputes in an efficient and appropriate manner
through out-of-court or other comparable procedures,

(1) OJ L 115, 17.04.1998, p. 31.

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B. whereas the 1998 communication stated that (cid:145)The Commission will facilitate the networking of [extra-
judicial dispute-settlement] bodies so as to promote their active collaboration in resolving specific
cases. Ultimately, consumers should be able to refer cross-border disputes to the competent out-of-
court body in the foreign country via the corresponding out-of-court body in their own country(cid:146),

C. whereas, in the Presidency conclusions of the European Council held in Tampere on 15/16 October
1999, it is stated that (cid:145)Alternative, extra-judicial procedures should (cid:133) be created by the Member
States(cid:146),

1. Welcomes the Commission(cid:146)s (cid:129) albeit limited (cid:129) initiative as a step towards facilitating the speedy,
economic resolution of cross-border consumer disputes, which are often of a low pecuniary value;

Stresses that in the first instance attempts should be made to solve the dispute directly between the

2.
consumer and the traders before resorting to extra-judicial solutions;

Asks the Commission to consider the possibility of introducing a best practice charter to improve

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education of and information to consumers;

4.

Calls on the Commission to take account of the following points in developing the EEJ-Net:

(a) Steps must be taken to ensure that there is better coordination as between the various Directorates
General at the Commission and between the EEJ-Net and FIN Net and a better flow of information to
Parliament, together with more involvement of that institution;

(b) Clearing houses must be in a position to give preliminary legal advice and the Commission should
recommend that they have at least access to trained lawyers with professional liability insurance;

(c) The Commission should run a large-scale information and awareness-raising campaign together with
the national governments throughout the whole of the European Economic Area, and consumers(cid:146)
organisations and chambers of commerce should be involved in ensuring greater awareness among
the public; Member States should ensure the widest possible partnership between the appropriate
organisations and bodies to develop promotional and information strategies for the public;

(d) Start-up funding should be made available for the EEJ-Net scheme in view of its interest for the Inter-
nal Market, its crucial role in securing access to justice and the savings which are likely to ensue for
the judicial system; the Commission(cid:146)s agreement to provide start-up funding for the EEJ-Net scheme is
welcomed but it should ensure that longer-term funding is available in particular in those Member
States with little experience of alternative extra-judicial systems;

(e)

(f)

It is essential to make provision for staff training and exchanges of personnel between clearing houses
in the Member States;

In addition to the proposed memorandum of understanding, the Commission should see to it that the
clearing houses subscribe to service-level agreements setting out the basic level of service which
citizens may expect from the EEJ-Net across the European Union; the Commission should ensure
that the memorandum of understanding includes service level agreements with reference to timely
acknowledgement of receipt, and this memorandum should be supplemented at Member State level
to cover working systems between the clearing houses and the extra-judicial dispute resolution bodies,
setting out the minimum service level guarantees which citizens may expect from the EEJ-Net;

(g) As envisaged in the memorandum of understanding, the Commission should systematically monitor
and supervise the operation of the EEJ-Net to check for discrepancies between the Member States, to
ensure coherence and to provide invaluable feedback on the operation of the Internal Market to the
responsible Directorate General and ultimately to Parliament, in particular to ensure an exchange of
views and data on the overall performance of the network; furthermore, it should produce an annual
report on the operation of the scheme, including a statistical breakdown of the number and nature of
cross-border disputes;

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(h) The Commission must ensure that multilingual forms and documents are prepared for use by the
clearing houses; it should ensure that clearing houses and consumers can use their own language in
settling disputes via the EEJ-Net, for which purpose there should in particular be a well-equipped
translation capacity; the provision in the memorandum of understanding for consumers to use their
own language in settling disputes is welcomed and the Commission should ensure that European
complaint forms are clear and simple for consumers;

(i)

(j)

Suitable mechanisms should be introduced for dealing with complaints about the operation of the EEJ-
Net;

Every step should be taken to ensure that the EEJ-Net and FIN Net intermesh with the EEJ-Net and that
their activities and competences are properly defined and coordinated;

(k) The EEJ-Net should be extended as soon as possible to cover the candidate countries and the EEA

States; it should also ultimately be possible for non-member countries to join the scheme;

(l) The Commission should provide for the flexible delivery of the EEJ-Net through both public and
private sector schemes provided that they fulfil the criteria of independence and impartiality and
meet agreed levels of service which citizens can expect;

(m) The provision of EEJ-Net access through local or Community advice facilities to better reflect con-

sumer requirements needs to be stressed;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission and the parliaments

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of the Member States.