out-of-court dispute settlement body
Out-of-court dispute settlement bodies are independent, non-governmental bodies. They have a high level of expertise and are required to carry out their work in an impartial, swift and fair manner, based on transparent rules. The quality of a dispute settlement body’s work is ensured through certification by the competent governmental supervisory authority in the Member State where the dispute settlement body is established. In Germany, out-of-court settlement bodies will be formally certified by the Bundesnetzagentur, subject to a relevant decision by the legislature. Parties are generally free to select any dispute settlement body in the European Union that has been certified by a competent supervisory authority. The European Commission publishes a list of all certified dispute settlement bodies in the European Union; the list will also be made available here.
It is generally possible for all users, data holders, data recipients and providers of data processing services and their customers to have access to out-of-court dispute settlement. The dispute settlement procedure is a voluntary procedure. Dispute settlement by a certified dispute settlement body is therefore only possible if the parties agree to the procedure. In addition, a decision by a dispute settlement body is only binding for the parties if the parties explicitly agree to the decision being binding before the dispute settlement procedure begins.
