The package of legislative proposals presented by the Commission is intended to ensure that all EU consumers can solve their problems without going to court, regardless of the kind of product or service that the contractual dispute is about and regardless of where they bought it in the European single market.

The European Commission presented a package of legislative proposals to ensure that all EU consumers can solve their problems without going to court. Currently, out-of-court dispute resolution in the EU is possible only for some business sectors or in some areas. With the measures proposed by the Commission, the EU consumers can solve their problems regardless of the kind of product or service that the contractual dispute is about and regardless of where they bought it in the European single market (that is, at home or abroad). On the other hand, the package to boost consumer protection and confidence in financial services was presented by the Commission in 2010.

According to the Commission, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for consumers is faster, cheaper and easier to use than court proceedings. It is estimated that universal access to quality ADR across the EU will save consumers around €22.5 billion/year. It will also help businesses manage their customer relations and boost their corporate image. In addition, the Commission also proposes to create an EU-wide single online platform, which will allow to solve contractual disputes entirely online within 30 days, for consumers shopping online from another EU country.

The cost of unresolved consumer disputes is estimated at 0.4% of the EU's GDP. This includes the money lost by European consumers due to problems when shopping from other EU countries, which is estimated between €500 million and €1 billion. Today, there are more than 750 ADR entities in the EU. However, in some EU countries they are available only in some regions or only in some sectors (e.g. financial service or telecommunications to name some). The Commission therefore propose to foster this system.