Cross-Border Disputes Under the Revised Consumer ADR Directive:A Renaissance?

Consumers buy more and more products and services online. This development was initially internal to individual Member States and the European Union, but third-country traders like Temu or Shein now start to dominate certain markets. Consumers wanting to get recourse against foreign sellers can rely on European Union Private International Law to receive protection against foreign jurisdictions and laws. In state adjudication, at least. Consumers choosing for alternative dispute resolution (CADR) miss much of this protection under the current CADR Directive. In September 2025, however, the likely-to-be-final text of a revised CADR Directive was published. This article investigates what the proposed changes mean to cross-border CADR in the European Union. It discusses issues of ‘jurisdiction’ (i.e. where can the consumer start CADR proceedings), applicable law (which standards govern the dispute), quality of CADR (i.e. expertise of the ‘judges’), recognition and enforcement of a decision abroad, and the role of National Contact Points in supporting consumers. An analysis at the intersection of CADR and Private International Law shows that also the revised Directive severely lacks safeguards to ensure effective cross-border CADR. The article suggests multiple changes to the Directive that would improve the situation. Its main critique is that the revised Directive’s inclusion of third-country traders is at best symbolic and that the European Union legislator should have been inspired by the rules on consumer jurisdiction in Articles 17-19 Brussels Ibis Regulation when drafting the revised Directive.