Wykład otwarty / Open lecture „Consumer Dispute Resolution in the EU”

Tytuł wykładu: Consumer Dispute Resolution in the EU: Different Pathways, Different Challenges”
Termin: 8 czerwca 2026 r. (poniedziałek), godz. 16:30 
Miejsce: Instytut Nauk Ekonomicznych, Wydział Prawa Administracji i Ekonomii, sala 2D, budynek D, ul. Uniwersytecka 7-10.

Date: 8 June 2026 (Monday), 4.30 pm
Venue: Institute of Economic Sciences, Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics, Room 2D, Building D, 7–10 Uniwersytecka Street.

Abstract of the Lecture

EU policymakers have increasingly granted consumers a broad range of substantive rights. For many years, however, these rights were not matched by a robust enforcement framework. This is now beginning to change.

In 2020, the Representative Actions Directive was adopted, requiring Member States to provide mechanisms for representative actions (class actions) in cases of infringements of consumer law. Earlier, in 2013, the Consumer ADR Directive was adopted and subsequently amended in 2025. This Directive aims to ensure the availability of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) entities across all areas of consumer law. In addition, regulatory redress – the provision of consumer compensation by regulatory authorities – has re-emerged on the political agenda in the context of the revision of the CPC Regulation.

This lecture critically examines these enforcement mechanisms and argues for the development of a more holistic and coherent framework for consumer dispute resolution.

About the Speaker

Stefaan Voet studied law at Ghent University in Belgium (2001). In 2011 he wrote his PhD thesis about complex litigation in Belgium, for which he received in 2014 the Triannual Price of Civil Procedure awarded by the vzw Algemene Modellenverzameling voor de Rechtspraktijk. Since 2015 he is a professor of civil procedure at KU Leuven and a host professor at the University of Hasselt. Stefaan was a visiting scholar at the University of Houston (2009) and Stanford Law School (2014). He was a visiting lecturer/professor at the University of Houston, SMU Dedman School of Law in Dallas, University of Tennessee, Syracuse University, China-EU School of Law in Beijing, University of Pavia, University of Pretoria, Roma Tre University, University of Texas at Austin and EMARF (Escola da Magistratura Regional Federal da 2E Regiao) in Rio de Janeiro. In 2016-2017 he held the TPR (Tijdschrift voor Privaatrecht) Chair at the University of Utrecht (Molengraaff Institute for Private Law). In 2020 he was an external scientific fellow at the (former) Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law. He is a member of different working groups of the European Law Institute. Stefaan is also a substitute appellate judge in the Court of Appeal Ghent and a member of the board of directors of Ombudsfin. In 2025 he was appointed (as ‘Kwartiermaker’) by the Dutch Minister of Justice and the Minister of Legal Protection to advise them on reforming the mediation landscape in the Netherlands. Since 2025 he is a co-director of the European Civil Justice Center (https://www.eur.nl/en/esl/research/our-research/research-centres/european-civil-justice-centre), established by Erasmus School of Law and KU Leuven.