ECC Italy and the ADR for consumers’ disputes Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. By Chiara Pagano DG SANCO DG AMTC seminar “ADR in Spain and in the European Union” December 12, Madrid

ECC-Net Italy: in 2006 the new structure Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. Promoted by the EC, the Ministry of Economic Development and by the Province of Bolzano Carried out by Adiconsum and CTCU (host organizations) DG SANCO

Six offices Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. Rome (main branch) Bolzano (cross-border branch) Alessandria, Milano, Bologna and Firenze (additional contact points for consumers) DG SANCO

Some figures on 2006 activity Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ……… individual requests for information and assistance 1000 cross-border cases handled 3 big events in the year 10 different publications, a weekly Newsletter A new web site, in 4 languages (over 400 pages) DG SANCO

Consumer protection in Italy Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. DG SANCO Public Policies for consumer protection only started with the implementation of EU directives: no mention in our Constitution, no specific legislation for many years Consumer organizations started their activity in the early 80s The law 281/98 recognised consumers’rights and the associations

Consumer complaints in Italy Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. Historically, a huge amount of consumer contentious, due to above stated lack of protection Court justice in Italy is not easily accessible to consumers Peace Justice has slightly improved the situation Companies are not aware of competition advantages coming from customer relationships and disputes’ management DG SANCO

ADR in Italy Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. Absence of a consistent tradition of conciliation and arbitration, both in the B2B and in the B2C disputes ADR bodies started operating late and with great difficulty Lack of awareness among consumers of ADR advantages Lack of incentives for companies to accept ADR procedures

ADR bodies Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. DG SANCO Most are generalist, some are specialised by matter or company-specific: Each Chamber of Commerce (103 in Italy) has an ADR (conciliation and arbitration chamber) with general content Each Regional Communication Committee (21 in Italy) has an ADR for the “compulsory” conciliation attempt The Banking Ombusman has an arbitration body (the “Gran Giurì) Telecom Italia has a Conciliation body to deal with its customers’ complaints Most of them comply with the requirement of the EU Reccommendations, but only 4 are notified to the EC.

ADR agreements Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. DG SANCO Many agreements were signed between consumer associations and big companies (services of general interest like post, electricity, telephone, besides insurance and bank) to address to ADR all consumer contentious. Others were signed with business associations representing small enterprises (trade and craft, distance sales) These agreements brought to hundred thousands conciliation procedures per year. CSR policies, qualifiyng consumers as stakeholders, are increasingly improving the awareness of ADR. Some companies decided to have a “conciliation clause” within their contracts, or providing this in their Code of Conduct.

The new project by the Ministry of Economic Development Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. DG SANCO 10 million Euro have been allocated to support initiatives benefiting consumers in 2007 and 2008: -National call center -Training courses for the personnel of consumers’ organizations -ADR promotion campaign -Information desks for consumers aimed at assisting them in the complaint and access to ADR 4 big Italian Univeristies and most of the consumer associations were involved in the project, besides the Italian Union of the Chambers of Commerce

Main challenges for ADR in Italy Centro Europeo Consumatori Italia ………. To sensitize both consumers and companies on ADR advantages To provide concrete incentives to companies, encouraging acceptance of ADR To improve the functioning of Court Justice: this way ADR is really an “alternative” DG SANCO