The Small Claims Procedure

What happens if, after carrying out several attempts, the company does not accept to refund the consumer or he is not willing to take part to the ADR procedure? In such cases, the only conceivable solution is to take legal steps. This solution has been very hard for the consumer to consider until the Small Claims Procedure was introduced in January 2009. This procedure allows consumers to lodge even small claims before a judicial court. This procedure, created by Regulation

EC 861/2007 of the European Parliament and the Council, fosters the cooperation between Member States in civil and commercial issues, for all disputes whose value does not exceed 2.000 Euros. It is applied to corss-border disputes where at least one of the two parties is resident in a Member State which is different from the one where the applied court is situated. It is a real judicial proceeding which is carried out in written form (therefore the consumer will not have to attend it). It is a simplified procedure which has limited costs as it is not necessary for consumers to be represented by a lawyer: these characteristics make the procedure really simple and accessible to every consumer being involved in a dispute against an operator of another EU country, after a cross-border purchase of a product or service. Firstly, a conciliation is carried out and it case it is not successful, the actual procedure starts and it is characterised by a limited number of hearings in order to avoid long and expensive proceedings. Alternative ways such as video conferences or other technical devices are applied and the judge can decide to reject the requests he does not consider to be fully necessary or he can also decide to ask for evidence, such as written statements from witnesses or from experts. However, the judge is also required to choose the less expensive and onerous way to gather evidence for the consumer.      

The European Consumer Centre cannot assist consumers in any judicial proceeding but he can provide advice and support in order to make use of this new tool to protect their rights in EU. ECC-Net Italy provides free assistance.