The Private international law Regime of Alternative and Online Cross-Border Consumer Dispute Resolution after the new European Legal Frame and the Spanish Act 7/2017

Abstract

The new European law on alternative and online resolution of consumer disputes represents a regulation which is unprecedented in Europe and pioneer at the global level establishing an institutional framework which favours the online resolution of consumer disputes. In the review that has been carried out, we have detected shortcomings in existing private international law solutions in order to ensure the application of Art. 10 CDR Directive in all its spatial application scope, for which it is necessary to give the rank of overriding mandatory provision to Art. 15 SATD. We have indicated the urge to overrule, in order to ensure the functioning of the European platform, the interpretation according to which the submission to a foreign consumer arbitration is not compatible with public policy. The new regime has also caused the surfacing of some regulatory gaps that must be filled in, such as the one regarding the determination of the applicable law to the obligation to participate in proceedings before entities or to determine the non-binding nature of the consumer mediation agreement.