Professor Julia Hörnle is to take part in UNCITRAL Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) expert meeting convened to aid negotiations on ODR procedure at the UNCITRAL ODR Working Group meeting in New York 24-28 March 2014.
UNCITRAL has been working on procedural rules for Online Dispute Resolution (particularly relevant for cross-border e-commerce) since 2010 and a real momentum has built up for the first international framework for ODR, but different countries have different laws on issues such as the enforceability of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer contracts, which makes it difficult to find a common procedural framework that fits all countries’ legal systems. However ODR is in the interests of consumers and business alike as it provides a means of redress for solving cross-border internet disputes and will aid e-commerce transactions and ultimately solve conflicts occurring on the internet.