LEGAL EXPERTS

Group 49

Consumer mediation

Consumer satisfaction is at the heart of business concerns. Ability to establish and maintain a trustworthy relationship with all partners, including end-customers, i.e., consumers, is a prerequisite for success. It requires to provide services or products that meet the consumers’ expectations. It must also facilitate individual and mass conflict resolution, thanks to effective and quick resolution mechanisms.

“Inter-company mediation allows you, in more than 70% of the cases, to find a solution allowing you to get out of this situation.”

The CMAP provides two solutions to your consumers conflicts:

  • For individual disputes: individual consumer mediation
  • For your mass claims: collective mediation

Individual consumer mediation

Since the Ordinance no. 2015-1033 of 20 August 2015 regarding extrajudicial consumer conflicts resolution completed by Decree no. 2015-1382 dated 30 October 2015 concerning the mediation of consumer conflicts, “any consumer has the right to request, free of charge, the resolution of its claim against a company by a consumer mediator” and “thus, the professional guarantees to the consumer the effective use of a consumer mediation procedure.”

In view of this new regulation which transposes the 21 May 2013 European Directive concerning extrajudicial consumer dispute resolution, the CMAP provides its consumer mediation services to all companies and businesses seeking to offer sustainable relationships with all their stakeholders and especially with its consumers

In addition to the services it offers in the business world and in social matters, the CMAP is referenced as a consumer mediator with the Commission for the Evaluation and Control of Consumer Mediation (Commission d’Evaluation et de Contrôle de la Médiation de la Consommation), the CECMC, since 2017.

You are a company...

and wish to appoint the CMAP as a consumer mediator: contact us.

You are a consumer...
and wish to refer a dispute with a professional to us: refer to us (any referral must first have been the subject of a written complaint by the consumer to the professional, on pain of inadmissibility). 

You will find below the conditions for validating your referral:

  • You are an individual,
  • The company has signed an agreement with the CMAP,
  • You have made prior written representations to the company more than one month ago,
  • Your application is written in French,
  • You have not referred the matter to another mediator or to the courts,
  • Your request for mediation is made less than one year after your last approach to the company,
  • The dispute falls within the scope of the CMAP,
  • You undertake to respect the confidentiality of the mediation process,

If these conditions are not met, your referral is not validated by the Centre. You will be informed of this within three weeks of receiving your file.

Skilled and experienced professionals

Our mediators are all heavily involved in the business world.

They have, or have had, a professional background as company directors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, legal directors, sales representatives, company founders and many other professions.

CMAP-nous-contacter

Some examples...

“Je suis impliqué depuis plus de 25 ans dans trois sociétés de conseil en tant qu’associé et dispose de ce fait d’une vision assez claire des relations entre associés : relations opérationnelles quotidiennes, relations amicales, relations financières,… Je mesure les divers points de vues d’associés et les motifs de tensions liés à ces relations riches et particulières.”
« Même si je travaille majoritairement dans le secteur de l’hôtellerie, mes fonctions au tribunal de commerce me permettent de bien connaître le secteur du bâtiment. En effet, plus de 80% des dossiers de la chambre des contentieux concernent des litiges dans ce secteur. »
« Mes différentes fonctions de DG au sein de grands groupes industriels dans le domaine agro-alimentaire m’ont donné une bonne expérience de la négociation avec la Grande Distribution, qu’il s’agisse des référencements, des budgets, des remises et plus généralement des tarifs »
« Ancien dirigeant d’une société de courtage d’assurance, membre actif de la plupart des associations professionnelles de juristes d’assurance (AJAR, AIDA, AMRAE, CEFAREA…) je suis également depuis 30 ans spécialiste de la Distribution sous toutes ses formes (concession, agence commerciale, internet, franchise…). »
« Je réalise depuis 20 ans des missions de conseil en assistance à la maîtrise d’ouvrage en systèmes d’information, portant précisément sur les systèmes de gestion pour de grands comptes publics ou privés. Par exemple j’ai conduit le projet de refonte de l’ensemble du système de gestion commerciale et d’administration des ventes d’une grande société privée. A ce titre, j’ai notamment assisté le client et l’intégrateur informatique à mettre au point les contrats de mise en œuvre d’une part et d’infogérance d’autre part. »
Previous slide
Next slide

Trained professionals

Initial training

To ensure their perfect command of the mediation process, mediators, regardless of their previous experiences, must be trained to mediation.
For this purpose, the CMAP holds practical training courses.

Before being a mediator accredited by the CMAP, the candidate, after being trained, will have to pass a certification exam which includes a theoretical exam and a practical exam.

The courses are open to all professionals who wish to understand the process, the spirit and the techniques of mediation.

Consumer mediators undergo specific training for the implementation of consumer mediations, which meets the requirements of the European Directive of 21 May 2013.

Continuous education

Once accredited, all mediators must undergo continuous training in order for their accreditation to be renewed every year

How are they appointed?

The CMAP’s consumer mediators must be referenced by the CECMC and have training (see above) and experience in mediation.
Mediators who have been validated by the CECMC are then appointed within the framework of the consumer mediation agreements signed by the CMAP with companies. They are chosen, for each agreement, with regard to the business field of the signatory companies.

CMAP-nous-contacter

Mediators' ethics

The mediator ‘s role is really to assist the parties to find a reasonable ad satisfactory amicable solution to their dispute.

Before being proposed as a mediator to the parties, the mediator has to certify, prior to accepting each case, that he/she has no conflict of interest with the parties and their counsels, and that he/she is available to handle the case.

The CMAP Rules, and in particular its ethical rules, served as inspiration for the European regulation to which the CMAP contributed significantly.

Becoming a mediator

To become a CMAP mediator, you must have undergone a mediation training and passed the ESCP Europe– CMAP mediator certification exam.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Collective mediation

A law on group action was adopted on 17 March 2014. This procedure allows consumers who consider themselves victims of a prejudice linked to the same product to join together in order to obtain compensation from the manufacturer. To do so, consumers must come together under the aegis of one of the 15 approved national consumer associations.

Articles L623-22 and 23 of the French Consumer Code provide that the judge may, if he/she considers it appropriate, propose a mediation measure between the requesting consumer association and the defending company at any stage of the proceedings.

A collective mediation can be initiated:

  • during judicial proceedings, or
  • spontaneously before filing any claim in court

It must be integrated into the company conflict management policies. It has many advantages: efficiency, speed, inexpensive and much more!

You are an accredited national consumer association,

and you would like to implement collective mediation, contact us

You are a company,

and you have disputes with several consumers, contact us.

You are a consumer,

and you believe you have suffered a loss as a result of a company’s failure, contact one of the accredited national consumer associations (CNAFAL, CNAFC, CSF, Familles de France, Familles rurales, UNAF ADEIC, AFOC, Indecosa-CGT, ALLDC, UFC-Que choisir, CLCV, CGL, CNL, Fnaut) indicating that you would like to initiate mediation.