Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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92. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the implementation of the European Union directive on consumer alternative dispute resolution, ADR; the policy decisions that he has taken following the consultation process on the directive in 2014; the actions has he taken or will take to ensure consumers have access to ADR processes for all contractual disputes, as required under the directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41949/15]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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93. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the implementation of the European Union regulation on an online dispute resolution platform for Irish consumers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41950/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together.

The position in relation to the EU Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution for consumer disputes is that I recently signed the transposing measure into domestic legislation by way of S.I. No. 343 of 2015 and S.I. No. 368 of 2015. The statutory instruments designate the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission as the competent authority in the State for the purpose of the Directive and the enforcement of the regulations. They also set out the requirements which a dispute resolution entity must fulfil in order to be recognised as a qualified ADR entity and specify the information which a trader must make available to a consumer.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is currently accepting notification requests from dispute resolution bodies who are seeking to be notified as qualified ADR entities and the necessary documentation is available on their website. As required under the regulations, the Commission will establish and maintain a list of ADR entities that have been notified to it and which satisfy the quality requirements specified in the Directive.

In relation to the related Council Regulation (EU) on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes, the position is that I signed the necessary implementing regulations into national law on 9 November, 2015 (S.I. No. 500 of 2015). The statutory instrument designates the European Consumer Centre Ireland as the ODR contact point in the State for the purposes of Article 7 of the Council Regulation and specifies the functions it will carry out as the ODR contact point. The electronic online dispute resolution platform will be provided by the European Commission and is due to commence operation on 9 January, 2016.