Consumer mediation in the EU: what to show

Website, terms, order forms: where to name the mediator

Under the EU directive on consumer ADR (2013/11/EU, Article 13), a trader covered by a dispute resolution body tells consumers about it, with its website address, clearly and accessibly on its website and in its terms of sale. When a complaint to the trader fails, the trader gives that information again.

France goes further. Every consumer has the right to use a consumer mediator free of charge, and the trader guarantees effective access to one (Code de la consommation, L612-1, in French). The trader communicates the mediator's details (L616-1) at two moments:

• before any dispute, visibly and legibly, on its website, in its terms of sale and on its order forms, with the mediator's website address (R616-1);
• when a dispute could not be settled through a complaint made directly to its customer service: it gives the same information again.

The option of turning to a mediator is also part of the information due before the order (L221-5).

Who must have one, and who pays for mediation

According to the French Ministry of the Economy's FAQ on consumer mediation (in French), every trader is covered, whatever the sector, except non-economic services of general interest, care given by health professionals, and public higher education. Disputes between businesses are excluded.

Mediation is free for the consumer. The trader pays for it: the mediator shares its rates, and an agreement signed before any mediation sets its fee.

The consumer can only go to the mediator after a written complaint to you that got no satisfactory answer, or no answer within two months, and at the latest one year after that complaint. Once the case is notified, mediation ends within 90 days, unless extended for a complex dispute.

Pick a referenced mediator, then name it everywhere

Most of these steps are done once, in your texts; the last one involves your customer service.

1. If you sell to French consumers and have no mediator, pick one from the list of referenced mediators (in French), competent for your sector, before any dispute arises. Your trade federation may already have appointed one.
2. Have its name, address and website shown in your terms of sale and on the site itself, where a buyer finds it without searching, such as the contact page or the footer.
3. Write "médiateur de la consommation" (consumer mediator) in full, with its name. The word "médiation" alone does not tell the buyer which recourse is meant.
4. Remove the link to the EU online dispute platform, closed in 2025 if your terms still carry it, along with the sentence that goes with it.
5. Add the mediator's details to the reply your customer service sends when a complaint goes nowhere.

The mediator sits alongside the other items due before the order, including the legal guarantee of conformity and the right of withdrawal. The guide to EU ecommerce legal requirements gathers the full list.

"Mediation" alone does not name your mediator

Once it has established that the site sells at a distance to consumers, the audit reads the displayed text of your contractual pages: terms of sale, legal notice, delivery, returns or disputes pages, and the PDF of your terms if there is one.

It looks for a consumer mediator: the scheme named as such, in French or English, or a mediator named outright. Text that only says "mediation" is not enough, since the word also covers cultural or family mediation: counting it would make an unmet requirement look met. Terms the audit could not read leave the point not verifiable, neither compliant nor missing.

In the published report on a sporting goods marketplace, no mediator is named, neither in the 54 pages of terms nor in the help center. Yet the customer service phone number and opening hours appear on every page: buyers know where to complain, not where to turn if the complaint goes nowhere. We have found the same gap on other audited stores. The report says where the information was looked for; the fix is added text.