COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council repealing Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 and amending Regulations (EU) 2017/2394 and (EU) 2018/1724 with regards to the discontinuation of the European ODR Platform
Date: 2024-11-20
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission
Subjects: Internet site, alternative dispute resolution, consumer protection, digital single market, electronic commerce, provision of services, trade dispute

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 20.11.2024  COM(2024) 551 final 2023/0375 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council repealing Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 and amending Regulations (EU) 2017/2394 and (EU) 2018/1724 with regards to the discontinuation of the European ODR Platform (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
2023/0375 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Proposal for a Regulation of the European 
Parliament and of the Council repealing Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 and amending 
Regulations (EU) 2017/2394 and (EU) 2018/1724 with regards to the discontinuation of 
the European ODR Platform 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council (document COM(2023) 647 final – 2023/0375 
COD): 

17 October 2023 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

14 February 2024 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

13 March 2024 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N/A 

Date  of  adoption  of  the  position  of  the  Council  by  qualified 
majority: 

19 November 2024 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The  Commission  Proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council 
repealing Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 and amending Regulations (EU) 2017/2394 and (EU) 
2018/1724  with  regards to  the discontinuation of the European ODR Platform  is  part of the 
Rationalisation  Package  which  aims  at  reducing  the  administrative  burden  to  maintain  the 
competitiveness  of  European  businesses,  in  line  with  the  Communication  on long-term 
competitiveness of the EU1. 

The  Regulation  (EU)  No  524/2013  was  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  European 
Online  Dispute  Resolution  Platform  (hereafter  “the  European  ODR  Platform”)  where 
consumers and traders from the EU and EEA could refer their disputes over online purchases 
to  Alternative  Dispute  Resolution  (ADR)  entities.  The  European  ODR  platform  has  been 
operating since 2016 as a multilingual digital infrastructure where consumers and traders can, 

1 
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council the European Economic 
and  Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  Regions:  Long-term  competitiveness  of  the  EU:  looking  beyond 
2030, Brussels, 16.3.2023, COM(2023) 168 final,  
https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-03/Communication_Long-term-competitiveness.pdf  

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by mutual agreement, request an ADR entity to resolve their dispute over an online purchase. 
The Regulation provided for the Commission to manage the platform, and online businesses 
to comply with certain information obligations on their websites in order to enhance visibility 
to  the  platform.  The  Regulation  further  provided  for  every  Member  State  to  host  an  ODR 
contact point with two ODR advisors. Despite over two million visits to the European ODR 
Platform annually, its objective under the Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 was not fulfilled, as 
only 200 disputes on average reached an ADR entity every year, and the costs of its technical 
maintenance have been increasing.  

The  objective  of  the  Commission’s  proposal  is  to  repeal  the  ODR  Regulation  and  to 
discontinue  the  ODR  platform.  Pursuant  to  Annex  7  to  the  relevant  Impact  Assessment2, 
discontinuing  the  platform  will  save  EUR  4,4  million  over  ten  years  for  the  EU  budget 
(annual  savings  of  EUR  600,000  for  the  maintenance  costs  of  the  platform,  with  eventual 
additional  annual  expenditure  of  EUR  100,000  for  other  developed  solutions  to  redirect 
consumers to the right ADR entity), with net benefit of EUR 370 million for businesses due to 
the removal of superfluous obligations.  

The repeal of the ODR Regulation does not undermine the policy objectives related to ADR 
for  consumers.  The  Commission  will  maintain  the  list  of  the  ADR  entities  and  provide 
information  on  consumer  redress  after  the  European  ODR  platform  is  discontinued.  The 
Commission  Proposal  for  a  Directive  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council 
amending  Directive  2013/11/EU  on  alternative  dispute  resolution  for  consumer  disputes,  as 
well as Directives (EU) 2015/2302, (EU) 2019/2161 and (EU) 2020/18283, which is currently 
in  the  inter-institutional  dialogues,  will  provide  legal  basis  for  digital  tools  informing 
consumers of appropriate redress options, and amend, where necessary, other Directives that 
mention the European ODR Platform.  

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

In line with the political agreement, the Commission proposal has not been amended on the 
substance. Instead, it has been referred to the lawyer-linguist revision with a view to the next 
procedural steps for its adoption by the co-legislators.  

The Council’s position wholly reflects the original Commission proposal. The legal-linguistic 
changes do not affect the implementation of the Regulation, its timeline or the role played by 
the Commission.  

The Commission can therefore endorse the Council’s proposal.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission supports the text adopted by the Council. 

Commission Staff Working Document Impact Assessment Report  

2 
Accompanying the document Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council  
amending Directive 2013/11/EU on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes,  
as well as Directives (EU) 2015/2302, (EU) 2019/2161 and (EU) 2020/1828  
https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/8be88573-0f6e-48f6-9ba4-
cabbc04c3a8f_en?filename=SWD_2023_335_1_EN_impact_assessment_part1_v2.pdf 
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Brussels, 17.10.2023 COM(2023) 649 final 2023/0376(COD) 
 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52023PC0649 

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