caa a22 4500 475812956 CHVBK 20180406123801.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170329e20000901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1023/A:1006800309878 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1023/A:1006800309878 Viitanen Klaus Institute of Private Law, University of Helsinki, SF-00014, Helsinki, Finland aut The Baltic Model for the Settlement of Individual Consumer Disputes [Elektronische Daten] [Klaus Viitanen] The aim of this study is to assess the possibilities consumers in the Baltic countries have to fulfil their rights in individual consumer disputes by using different forms of alternative dispute resolution. Special attention will be paid to the relation between the existing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) systems and the European Commission's Recommendation 1998 on ADR. The main finding is that in all three countries individual disputes are settled by the same consumer authorities which are also protecting consumers' collective interests. The system resembles in many respects the Nordic model but there are some significant differences. These differences give good reason to speak about the "Baltic model," which differs from all systems existing in the EC Member States. The most remarkable difference is the right to impose administrative sanctions if a trader refuses to comply with a decision which a consumer authority has made with respect to an individual consumer dispute. The basic structure of the Baltic model does not clash with the principles of the EC Recommendation on ADR adopted in 1998. On the contrary, in practice the Baltic model gives better guarantees for consumer access to justice in individual disputes than many systems used in the Member States. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000 Journal of Consumer Policy Kluwer Academic Publishers 23/3(2000-09-01), 315-339 0168-7034 23:3<315 2000 23 10603 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006800309878 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006800309878 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Viitanen Klaus Institute of Private Law, University of Helsinki, SF-00014, Helsinki, Finland aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Consumer Policy Kluwer Academic Publishers 23/3(2000-09-01), 315-339 0168-7034 23:3<315 2000 23 10603 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer