ODS Rules

ADR Center’s ODS Rules

Out-of-court Dispute Resolution Rules between Online Platform Providers and Service Recipients pursuant to art. 21 of the Digital Services Act - Regulation (EU) 2022/2065

Effective from April 28, 2025

Art. 1 Definitions

For the purposes of these Rules, the following definitions apply:

"ADR Center" is the international independent out-of-court dispute settlement (ADR) body based in Italy that administers the Out-of-Court Dispute Service (ODS) procedure under these Rules.

“Illegal Content” means information that does not comply with applicable Union law or the law of any Member State that is in compliance with Union law, as defined in the Digital Services Act.

“Terms and Conditions Violation” means any breach of the online platform's terms and conditions that govern the contractual relationship between the platform and its users.

ADR Center's "Case Management System" or "CMS" is a multilingual electronic communication technology developed by ADR Center to easily file a complaint and manage the ODS process online in all official languages of the European Union. The CMS is available at the following website: https://ods.adrcenter.com.

"Assessor" means an expert appointed by ADR Center for managing the ODS procedure and issuing a non-binding decision.

"Complaint" is the initial claim made by a User through ADR Center's CMS against a Provider, which falls within the areas listed in Art. 3, Section 3.

"Digital Service Act," "Digital Services Regulation," or "DSA" means Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on the single market for digital services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act) of the European Union.

"Out-of-court Dispute Service Mechanism", "Out-of-court Dispute Resolution" or "ODS" means the online dispute resolution procedure administered by ADR Center and its Assessor acting in a neutral, impartial, and competent manner with the aim of issuing a decision that is not binding on the Parties.

"Online Platform", "Provider" or "Platform" means a provider of an online platform or a large online platform that as a hosting service, at the request of a User, stores and disseminates information to the public.

“Online search engine” means an intermediary service that allows users to input queries in order to perform searches of, in principle, all websites, or all websites in a particular language, on the basis of a query on any subject in the form of a keyword, voice request, phrase or other input, and returns results in any format in which information related to the requested content can be found.

“ODS Case Manager” is the person/persons assigned by ADR Center to manage the CMS as available at: https://ods-service.adrcenter.com/ including by communicating with Users, Platforms, Trusted Flaggers, official authorities or any other third party that reaches out to ADR Center’s ODS and by evaluating case admissibility of the complaints received by the ODS.

"Service Recipient", "Recipient" or "User" means any natural or legal person using an intermediary service provided by a Provider of an online platform. For the avoidance of doubt, any references to "Service Recipient," "Recipient," or "User" in these Rules shall also implicitly include "Trusted Flaggers" or "Flaggers," without the need for explicit mention.

"Trusted Flaggers" or "Flagger" means any entity, designated by the respective national digital services coordinators, responsible for detecting potentially Illegal Content and alerting online platforms.

"Party" or "Parties" means a User or Flagger or Provider, who jointly participate in an ODS procedure.

"Documents" means all files, computer records, and any other evidence that has been submitted by the Parties to the dispute.

"Rules" means these Rules for Out-of-Court Dispute Service adopted by ADR Center and which may be subject to further amendment.

"Terms and Conditions" means all clauses, regardless of their name or form, that govern the contractual relationship between the Platforms and Users.

"‘Phases and Timing of the Procedure Timelines” refers to the timelines outlined within this Regulation, which should be considered as non-binding, except for the 90-day limit (180-day in case of complexity) specified in Article 7 of these Rules, representing the maximum timeframe for the procedure.

"Settlement agreement" means the agreement reached between a User and a Platform through negotiations held on the ODS and the functionalities it offers in the course of the procedure specified under art. 9 of these Rules.

All definitions should be interpreted and construed in line with the principles and the spirit of the DSA. In case of discrepancies between the definitions provided hereinabove and the meaning assigned to them under the DSA, the definitions set forth in these Rules and their assigned meaning shall prevail.

Art. 2 Application of the Rules

1. These Rules ("the Rules") are administered by ADR Center ("ADR Center"), its Assessors and ODS Case Managers.
2. These Rules define how ADR Centers shall handle out-of-court dispute resolution between Users and Providers of online platforms, in accordance with Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on the Single Market for Digital Services, which also amends Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act) of the European Union.
3. The Rules apply to domestic and cross-border disputes between Service Recipients and online platform providers in the following areas:
   1. Illegal Content or incompatibility with Provider’s Terms and Conditions;
   2. Removing or disabling access to information;
   3. Suspension or termination of user accounts or service provision;
   4. Suspension, termination, or limitation of the ability to monetize information; and
   5. Any other actions taken by online platform providers that affect users' content or accounts.
4. ADR Center may from time to time amend any provision of these Rules and such amendments shall be effective and applicable to all Claims filed after the date of posting of the relevant amendment on ADR Center's website at https://ods.adrcenter.com. Amendments will not be applied retroactively to claims already filed prior to the amendment date.

Art. 3. Process Principles

Any ODS proceedings that are held under these Rules shall adhere to the principles enshrined in the DSA and shall explicitly include the following:

1. Neutrality and impartiality – ADR Center shall always act in a neutral and impartial manner, ensuring its decisions are free from any bias or personal interest.
2. Fairness and Transparency - the ODS procedure shall be fair and transparent for all parties involved, allowing them to present their arguments in good faith and to substantiate them in an efficient manner, whereas the process shall conclude with the issuance of a decision that is well-supported and justifiable.
3. Legal and Human Rights compliance – all ODS proceedings shall comply with the applicable legislation and shall ensure that the relevant human rights are complied with in the course of the proceedings.
4. Efficiency – all ODS procedures are efficiently designed to enable timely and cost-effective dispute settlement in a large number of cases

Art. 4 Representation

1. It is allowed for the Parties to be assisted by lawyers, experts, and consultants appointed by them for the preparation of any of the written statements. Proof of the qualifications of such professionals is not required.
2. If a Complaint is submitted by someone other than the directly aggrieved party, additional documentation proving the legal representative’s authority must be provided for the case to be admissible.
3. Parties that are not natural persons other than the Providers are required to submit, at the beginning of the ODS procedure, appropriate documentation proving the representative powers of the person authorized to sign the written statements.
4. For the purposes of these Rules, only communication exchanged with a Platform’s representatives through the CMS shall be deemed binding on the Platform and on ADR Center. Such communication shall be presumed to be made by duly authorized representatives of the Platform, and no further verification of representative authority shall be required, unless there is reasonable doubt regarding the authenticity or authority of the individual acting on behalf of the Platform.

Art. 5 Initiation of the Procedure

1. Any User or Flagger may initiate an ODS proceeding against a Provider in accordance with these Rules by filing a complaint with ADR Center through its CMS which is easily accessible to users.
2. To file a Complaint, the User must first register in the ADR Center CMS by creating a personal account and agreeing to the terms and conditions governing the operation of the CMS.
3. The complaint must contain at least:
   1. The full contact details of the User or Flagger, including an e-mail address, telephone number, and mailing address and an indication on whose behalf the complaint is being filed;
   2. The Provider and Platfrom against which the Complaint is made;
   3. Description of the issue raised in the Complaint and when it occurred, with the User confirming that it took place less than 12 months prior to Complaint submission;
   4. Indication of the measures taken to attempt to resolve it, including through the Platform internal complaint-handling system and the responses received (if any);
   5. The desired outcome of the claim that the User or Flagger wishes to obtain (e.g., refund, replacement, removal/restoration of content);
   6. Digital copies of all documents relevant to the dispute, such as photos, screenshots, invoices, receipts, video or audio files;
   7. Preference of language from the available official European languages in which to run the procedure;
   8. Payment of start-up fees due for the administration of the procedure.
4. Only the documentation submitted by the User with the Complaint will be considered, unless otherwise requested by the Assessor after the declaration of admissibility.

Art. 6 Process Admissibility

1. Upon receipt of a Complaint, ADR Center shall assess its admissibility based on the following criteria:
   1. Complete contact details and identification of the party on whose behalf the Complaint is being filed, a full description of the Complaint as required in the application form, proof of representative authority (in cases of indirect filing) and payment of the applicable start-up fees;
   2. The Provider, Platform and service against whom the Complaint is filed must fall within the scope of the DSA and Article 21 and the Complaint should be directed merely against one Platform;
   3. The issue must fall within the regulatory scope of the DSA and relate to one or more of the following matters:

      a) Presence of Illegal Content or incompatibility with the Provider’s Terms and Conditions;

      b) Removal of or disabled access to information;

      c) Suspension or termination of user accounts or access to services;

      d) Suspension, termination, or limitation of monetization capabilities;

      e) Any other actions taken by online platform providers that affect a user's content or account;

   4. The User must have already submitted a complaint directly to the Platform in accordance with Article 20 of the DSA, and the issue must remain unresolved, including through the Platform’s internal complaint-handling system.
   5. The dispute must not have been settled through other means, including through a court decision on the merits of the dispute and there should be no ongoing court case addressing the substance of the dispute at the time of filing the Complaint.
   6. The issue must have arisen within 12 months preceding the submission of the Complaint.
   7. There is no evidence of bad faith on the part of the User, such as multiple filings against this Platform further to deliberate and repeated dissemination of clearly Illegal Content in order to impose the costs of the proceedings on the Platform.
   8. ADR Center will consider any prior or ongoing complaints submitted by the User to ADR Center in relation to the same platform and issue.
2. If the Complaint lacks any of the required information, or if the submitted information is partial, misleading, incomplete, or pertains to more than one Platform, the ADR Center will contact the User through the CMS to request the necessary clarifications within a reasonable timeframe or to advise the User to file separate Complaints for each Platform mentioned.
3. Based on the above requirements, ADR Center shall determine the admissibility of the Complaint. If the Complaint is deemed admissible, an Assessor shall be appointed and the Complaint shall be sent to the Provider for response. If the Complaint is not admissible, the User shall be promptly notified of this decision with the reasons being stated, which shall be final and not subject to appeal. Any filing fees already paid shall remain due and are non-refundable.

Art. 7 Appointment of the Assessor

1. ADR Center will appoint an Assessor from its pool of experts who possesses the skills and language knowledge most appropriate to the Complaint and who is available to issue a non-binding decision in a timely manner under these Rules.
2. In case an Assessor becomes permanently unavailable in the course of the assessment for reasons beyond his/her control or delays the issuance of the non-binding decision with more than 30 days after the expiration of the term for issuing a non-binding decision, ADR Center retains the right to unilaterally replace the Assessor with another one, whose profile, expertise and language capacity is similar. Before formally accepting such change, the newly appointed Assessor shall ensure that the procedure under art. 6 below has been complied with and that there is no conflict of interest that may impact his/her impartiality and neutrality or the perception of the latter.

Art. 8 Conflict of Interest, Communications, and Replacement of an Assessor

1. Before formally accepting the assignment, the Assessor must sign a statement attesting to his or her impartiality, neutrality, and independence, as well as a detailed knowledge of the Terms and Conditions of the Provider being complained about.
2. Each Assessor is required to disclose to ADR Center and the Parties involved the presence of any financial, professional, or personal interests relating to the outcome of the proceeding, or the existence of facts or circumstances that may generate a presumption of bias or affiliation with one of the Parties. Upon receipt of such information, and after consultation with the Parties, ADR Center may replace the Assessor with another expert selected from its roster. Alternatively, if any of the Parties raises justifiable concerns about the Assessor’s neutrality or impartiality not later than within 10 (ten) days of his/her appointment, this Party may request the assignment of a different Assessor, in which case an alternative Assessor shall be assigned.
3. All Assessors agree not to offer their services or assistance, paid or unpaid, to Providers, Users, or Flaggers involved in cases assigned to them, for the duration of the ODS procedure and for a period of three years thereafter. Failure to comply with these provisions will result in removal from the list of Assessors among ADR Center experts.
4. The Assessor may not act as an arbitrator, mediator, representative of counsel for a Party in an arbitration or judicial proceeding related to the dispute that is the subject of the ODS proceeding.
5. A conflict of interest is considered to exist in cases where the Assessor:
   1. provided advice, in any form and regardless of remuneration (paid or pro bono), to one of the Parties involved in the assigned complaint; or
   2. possesses personal, financial, or professional interests with one of the Parties to the assigned complaint. In such circumstances, the Assessor is required to withdraw from the procedure.
   3. All complaints made by Users affiliated with ADR Center (e.g., directors, employees, decision makers, etc.) are considered inadmissible.
   4. ADR Center's directors, employees, and Assessors should not have any relationship with Providers and in particular any personal, financial, or professional interest that might compromise the ability to act impartially and independently. This may include, but is not limited to, family relationships, personal or professional partnerships, significant financial investments, or any other ties or commitments that might call into question the individual's independence and objectivity.

Art. 9 Phases and Timing of the Procedure

1. The ODS procedure will be handled exclusively through ADR Center's CMS system, unless otherwise agreed on a case-by-case basis with any of the Platforms, and will be concluded within 90 days from the date of receipt of the Complaint. In cases of particular complexity, this deadline may be extended by an additional 90 days for a total of 180 days of which the parties shall be informed in advance ahead of the expiration of the initial 90-day term.
2. All communications held in the course of the Procedure shall be conducted through the CMS or through other appropriate means agreed upon on a case-by-case basis with any of the Platforms, all of which should be in writing, in English or in the preferred language by the User from the available languages in ADR Center indicated in the application.

Art. 10 Provider response

The Provider must provide a response in the language of the complaint and submit any additional documents related to the Complaint through the CMS within 20 days of receipt of the Complaint, unless otherwise provided. If the Provider, despite being invited to participate in the procedure, refuses or fails to respond within the stipulated 20 days, the Assessor shall render a non-binding decision based solely on the documents submitted by the User in the complaint within the time frame provided for in art. 7 above.

Art. 11 Settlement proposals and agreements

1. At the sole discretion of the Assessor, the negotiation feature within the CMS may be activated to enable the parties to exchange settlement proposals and additional statements with the aim of reaching an amicable resolution. These exchanges shall be permitted for a limited period, as determined by the Assessor, not exceeding a total of 25 days. In particularly complex cases, and provided the parties are actively negotiating via the CMS, the Assessor may extend this period up to a maximum of 60 days, if both parties submit a written request for such an extension. All exchanges of statements and proposals shall take place directly between the parties, without the Assessor’s active involvement.
2. If the Parties reach a settlement agreement by exchanging and accepting proposals through the CMS or other appropriate and agreed upon means by the User, the Assessor closes the proceedings by declaring the complaint resolved through settlement without the need to issue a decision or any other case document.

Art. 12 Issuance of a non-binding decision and conclusion of the process

1. After the Provider’s response (if any) and upon the expiration of the settlement proposal period, the Assessor shall issue and file a non-binding decision through CMS and inform the parties of this decision through the communication means used for the case. The Assessors’ decision shall be solely based on the submitted documents and publicly available information and shall not account for any of the settlement proposals that may have been made in the course of the procedure.
   
   In case of settlement, the decision of the Assessor will acknowledge that the parties reached a settlement which terms will be included in the decision.
   
   The Decision shall include the reasoned position taken by Assessor and is without prejudice to the Parties' right to take legal action in a court of competent jurisdiction. A decision can be rendered even if there is no response or documentation from the Provider.
2. The decision issued by the Assessor will not be binding on the Parties unless they choose to accept it and formalize it in accordance with the national applicable law to the place of performance. Neither ADR Center nor the Assessor is responsible or required to formalize any additional binding decisions, which shall be handled directly between the Parties.
3. With the issuance of the non-binding decision, or the intervening settlement between the parties the ODS procedure shall be deemed concluded without any right of appeal by either Party, without ADR Center holding any responsibility for convert any of its non-binding decisions into binding ones, executable forwith for the parties.
4. At the end of the procedure, ADR Center will send a questionnaire to the parties to collect their feedback and their decision to accept, in whole or in part, the decision of the Assessor.

Art. 13 Confidentiality and Protection of Personal Data

1. All information, records, reports, or other documents received by the Assessor during his or her term of office will be treated with strict confidentiality. The Assessor shall not disclose such documents or testify or give evidence relating to the ODS procedure in any judicial proceeding or forum, unless so stipulated in the applicable national legislation. The Parties shall maintain the confidentiality of the procedure and shall not use or introduce as evidence in arbitration, judicial or other proceedings:
   1. The opinions expressed, proposals or offers proposed by a party;
   2. Admissions made by a party during the ODS procedure;
   3. Any evidence or source of evidence that does not become inadmissible only for its use in the ODS procedure.
   ADR Center would undertake all due technical and organisational security measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorised disclosure or access.
2. The collection, processing, and storage of all data transmitted through CMS or through other means of written communication will take place in full compliance with applicable data protection regulations and in accordance with ADR Center's Data Protection Notice, available at https://ods.adrcenter.com/. Such personal data shall be solely used for the purpose of conducting the dispute settlement procedure, communicating with the parties, improving the ODS services, and fulfilling legal obligations. Data will only be passed on to third parties if this is necessary for the dispute settlement procedure or is required by law, or if the parties have given their consent.
3. By submitting documents or written evidence through the CMS, the Party confirms that it has obtained such documents lawfully and with the consent of the persons concerned, whose personal data may be contained in the documents, and agrees to the exchange of such data between the Parties to the dispute through the CMS.
4. By agreeing to participate in the ODS process the Parties agree that an anonymized version of the final non-binding decision may be posted on the CMS, ADR Center, and other affiliated websites, and used for statistical or analytical purposes by ADR Center.

Art. 14 Disclaimer of no liability

1. Neither ADR Center, its management, officials and employees, nor the Assessors shall be liable to the Parties for any damages that may have occurred as a result of any acts or omissions alleged in connection with the procedure conducted under these Rules, the settlement reached, the issued non-binding decision and/or the compliance and execution of such a decision.

Art. 15 Start-up Costs and Cost of the Procedure

1. At the time the claim is filed the User is required to pay the nominal initiation fees specified in the claim form. The Provider will cover the full cost of the ODS proceeding, based on a service agreement with ADR Center that takes into consideration the annual volume of cases handled, the Assessor's professional fees, and costs related to secretarial and to CMS management. Unless explicitly agreed otherwise, the Provider shall pay to ODS the case costs not later than within 30 days from the date of receiving the Complaint from the ODS. The fee shall become due and executable forthwith irrespective of whether a Provider’s response has been filed in or not.
2. If the dispute is decided, in whole or in part, in favor of the User the Provider shall reimburse the User for the initiation costs and all costs incurred in connection with the ODS procedure. These costs shall be determined by the Assessor according to the following criteria:
   1. Expenses reasonably related to and aimed at ensuring the legal protection of the User's rights during the ODS procedure;
   2. Proof of actual payment of expenses, accompanied by relevant documentation;
   3. Usual expenses for this type of litigation and proportionate to the objectives pursued, such as legal representation and expert advice;
   4. Charges that do not exceed prevailing market costs for similar services necessary to ensure adequate legal protection of the User's rights.
3. If the dispute is decided in favor of the Provider the User is not required to reimburse the Provider for the costs incurred in participating in the ODS proceeding, unless the Assessor determines that the User acted in bad faith. In such a case, the User shall reimburse the Provider for the actual costs incurred in the ODS proceeding.
4. If the Platform does not cover the costs it has been awarded with, ADR Center may report such failure as a violation under the DSA and may take further actions against this Platform, including but not limited to, notifying the relevant authority of competence for this non-compliance.

Art. 16 Interpretation and Application of the Rules

The Assessor shall interpret and apply these Rules insofar as they relate to the duties and responsibilities of the Assessor. In all other cases, the Rules will be interpreted and applied by ADR Center.

Art. 17 Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

The ODS procedure is regulated, interpreted, and implemented in accordance with the laws of Italy. Participation in this procedure does not impair or limit in any way the right of the User or the Flagger to take legal action in the court of competent jurisdiction.