Consumers will from now on be empowered to take on incapable companies without them having to go to court according to the proposals of the EC European Commission. The EC is keen to establish better and more dispute resolution schemes all through the Continent like the Financial Ombudsman Service which arbitrates between dissatisfied UK customers and financial firms. It can award compensation too. In the UK especially, the Commission chooses the food services, transport, and construction industries as sectors without an arbitration service.
If such services are not available there, many of the people are force to do the arduous work and seek the expensive court route to seek redress. If you are disputed with an airline, you can complain to the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, although it will not take up every case. It tends to investigate if there is any systemic problem with the carrier. You can seek help from the Air Transport Users' Council, although it is not powered to force the hand of the airline.
According to the EC, the services will ensure faster, easier and cheaper non judicial settlements in the disputes between traders and consumers. The EU Health and Consumer Commissioner, John Dalli, believes that all the consumers should have a simple, inexpensive and quick method for resolving problems at their disposal. This will help them handle the anxieties of the traders. The EC has come up with a public consultation on the different dispute resolution schemes for the consumers which are operative until March 15.
The results which are enabled from the schemes will be used for featuring in the legislative proposals of the Commission which is scheduled for the month of November. In the year 2009, there were about 3% of the consumers of the European Union who approached with their case an independent resolution body, according to the findings of the European Commission.
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