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Is Europe Skipping a Step? Exploring the Harmonization of Adr Agreements

The EU has in the past 15 years displayed particular interest in Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR. It has issued a number of instruments that set out the procedural framework within which the Member States have ample leeway to regulate ADR. One aspect that has remained under the European radar is the ADR agreement. This article explores how the EU could promote better access to justice by adopting uniform rules on the legal status of an ADR agreement. To that end, it discusses the substantive legal requirements that a valid and binding ADR agreement should meet. It also examines the obligations of the parties to an ADR agreement. Moreover, it confers how these obligations might be enforced. While laying out rules that fit the European legal context, this paper draws on comparative research on ADR in Belgium, England and Germany; on the rules of established ADR institutions such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC); and on Article 13 of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation.