The Luxembourg regulatory institute (ILR) said that almost half of the 80 mediation requests it received last year were settled without the need for further action in a report published yesterday.
The annual report on the activities of its mediation service for 2016 said that the majority of mediation requests related came from the electronic communications sector, though others came from energy and postal services.
The 80 requests received represent a drop of 18 on the year before.
Just under half of those, 39, were directly settled through mediation, though more may have been settled following the mediation process, without the need for further action.
In 2016, a number of changes were introduced that impacted the mediation process offered by the ILR, including the introduction of online applications, acceptance of electronic communication between, expansion of locus so that professionals can apply for mediation against a consumer, establishment of the National Service of the Consumer Ombudsman (SNMC), and the recognition of the ILR as a qualified entity for the out-of-court settlement of consumer disputes.
As a result it was necessary for the ILR to adapt its mediation procedure and issued new procedural rules that replace the old regulations setting out the mediation procedure in its jurisdictions.
The Ombudsman Service also reported on the most common problems encountered in 2016, such as billing problems or issues related to contractual terms of subscriptions for electronic communications services.
The annual activity report is available online: https://web.ilr.lu/mediation/FR/Mediation/Informations-utiles/Publications/Pages/default.aspx
