News
18 December 2012
Temporary discount on ADR fees prolonged
The discount on ADR fees originally provided between 1 July 2012 and 31 December 2012 will continue to be granted until 31 December 2013. A discount of EUR 700 is applicable per each filed complaint irrespective of the number of domain names in dispute and the type of panel requested (for example the fee for disputing one domain name before the single-member panel will be EUR 600 instead of EUR 1 300, the fee for disputing six domain names before the three-member panel will be EUR 3 300 EUR instead of EUR 4 000 etc.). The discount is applicable to all complaints submitted until 31 December 2013 and paid until 31 January 2014 at the latest. Please see the complete schedule of fees here.
16 October 2012
Video: What can you do to protect your .eu name, brand or trademark online?
Petr Hostas of the Czech Arbitration Court and EURid's Geo Van Langenhove talk about ADR.eu, the faster and fully-online alternative dispute resolution system.
The video is available here.
7 September 2012
Overview of ADR Panel decisions in .eu domain disputes
We are happy to announce that the CAC has prepared the overview of ADR Panel decisions in .eu domain disputes prepared in cooperation with Munster University and by the kind care of our panellist, Prof. Thomas Hoeren.
The overview shall help anyone interested in .eu ADR to understand how ADR Panels deal with specific issues in .eu disputes. It shall be of great assistance to parties to .eu proceedings, ADR Panels, and other professionals in the field.
The overview can be downloaded here.
27 June 2012
Temporary discount on ADR fees
As of 1 July 2012 there will be a temporary discount on ADR fees of EUR 700 per filing an ADR complaint. The discount will be granted per each filed complaint irrespective of the number of domain names in dispute and the type of panel requested (for example the fee for disputing one domain name before the single-member panel will be EUR 600 instead of EUR 1 300, the fee for disputing six domain names before the three-member panel will be EUR 3 300 EUR instead of EUR 4 000 etc.). The discount is applicable to all complaints submitted until 31 December 2012 and paid until 31 January 2013 at the latest. Please see the complete schedule of fees here.
28 February 2011
User survey amongst ADR.EU users
We are pleased to inform you of the results of the user survey we have made in the end of 2010 amongst the users of our online platform. The participants were posed 5 questions regarding the functioning of the platform, the quality of the information published and the communication with the CAC. Please find the answers below:
| 1. Did you find using the platform easy? | |
| a) easy | 77% |
| b) acceptable | 19% |
| c) I had difficulties using the platform | 4% |
| 2. Have you found enough information on the website? | |
| a) quite enough | 73% |
| b) the most important issues were covered | 23% |
| c) not enough | 4% |
| 3. Was the communication with the ADR Center smooth? | |
| a) smooth | 73% |
| b) without difficulties | 23% |
| c) I had difficulties communicating with the CAC | 4% |
4. What improvements of its services would you recommend the CAC to make? We have received 11 specific comments most if which were already implemented to increase quality of the platform.
We are still working on improvement of our services and welcome any comments or suggestions you might have about it.
13 August 2010
Interesting judgement of the European Court of Justice
On 3 June 2010 the European Court of Justice issued a judgement (C-569/08) concerning the subject of the ADR Proceedings. You may find the judgement here.
15 March 2010
Webinar on the Practical aspects of the new IDNs in .eu domain names
On 22 March 2010, 4 pm, EURid and the CAC will hold a webinar on practical aspects of the new IDNs in .eu domain names. This webinar will focus in a practical way on technical/organizational aspects of IDNs registrations in .eu and on legal aspects and experiences with the first IDNs-related cases. Presentations will be provided by Dimitri Geshef from EURid on technical/organizational aspects and by Tereza Bartoskova and Zbynek Loebl from ADR.EU on legal aspects and dispute resolution. It will be possible to ask questions on-line during and after the presentations. The whole webinar will last approximately one hour.
Those of you who are interested in attending the webinar, please register by e-mail to tereza.bartoskova@adr.eu. The webinar will be accessible at http://webinars.eurid.eu/webinar/6632.
12 January 2010
We are happy to announce that as of 1 February 2010 the amendment of ADR Rules and ADR Supplemental Rules will come into force enabling electronic-only ADR and introducing changes to Language Trial.
The amended Rules are accessible here:
12 November 2009
The Czech Arbitration Court invites comments from interested parties to the proposed amendments to both the .eu ADR Rules and Supplemental Rules. The amendments seek (i) to implement few practical changes related to the so called “language trial” procedure which follow experiences and recommendations of a number of commentators and were discussed at the last Panellist meeting; and (ii) to abolish the requirement for the Parties to submit their Complaints and/or Responses also in a hardcopy. The CAC has conducted a number of enquiries on this topic during this year and also following ICANN’s recent amendments to the UDRP Rules in the same direction we believe it is time to discuss and introduce the abolishment of the “hardcopy duty” so that the Parties are able to communicate throughout the whole .eu ADR process by their preferred form of communication, including in electronic form only via the CAC’s on-line platform. The proposed amendments are provided below:
Proposed changes to ADR Supplemental Rules
Comments on these proposals are encouraged to be submitted by 12 December 2009 via email to tereza.bartoskova@adr.eu. All comments received will be publicly posted at http://www.adr.eu.
2 November 2009
The Czech Arbitration Court has decided to lower its fees for .eu domain-name disputes so that the fees for both its ADR and UDRP procedure were the same. The change will become effective as of 10 December 2009 together with the implementation of internationalised domain names (IDNs) into .eu domain name system (for more information about IDNs and .eu please go to http://www.eurid.eu/en/eu-domain-names/idns-eu#quarantine).
The new schedule of ADR Fees shall be as follows:
16 March 2009
PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO ADR RULES AND SUPPLEMENTAL RULES
The Czech Arbitration Court invites comments from interested parties to the proposed amendments to both the .eu ADR Rules and Supplemental Rules.The amendments seek (i) to implement a new procedure within .eu ADR which would enable multiple Complainants to join in a single Complaint against a suspected cybersquatter; (ii) to implement further stage of electronic-only ADR which would not depend on the advanced electronic signatures.This public consultation follows two public consultations organized by the CAC in 2008. The proposed amendments are provided below in a PDF format:
Proposed modifications regarding so called Class Complaint and electronic-only procedures
Comments on these proposals are encouraged to be submitted by 20 April 2009 via email to tereza.bartoskova@adr.eu. All comments received will be publicly posted at http://www.adr.eu.
6 February 2009
PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO ADR FEES
The Czech Arbitration Court invites comments from interested parties to the proposed amendment to the .eu Supplemental Rules.The amendment seeks to lower ADR Fees in correspondence with the CAC’s fees for UDRP disputes.The proposed amendment is provided below in a PDF format:
Proposed new fees for .eu-related disputes
Comments on these proposals are encouraged to be submitted by 2 March 2009 via email to tereza.bartoskova@adr.eu. All comments received will be publicly posted.
30 September 2008
CZECH ARBITRATION COURT ANNOUNCES SELECTION OF ITS FIRST UDRP PANELLISTS
The Czech Arbitration Court has selected its first UDRP Panellists from among almost 200 applicants from the whole world. The following are the names of our first UDRP Panellists:
- Veronica Bailey
- Luca Barbero
- Enrique Batalla
- Fabrizio Bedarida
- Dietrich Beier
- Neil Anthony Brown
- Joseph Cannataci
- José M. Checa
- Nathalie Dreyfus
- Dominik Eickemeier
- Uli Foerstl
- Lambert Grosskopf
- Marie-Emmanuelle Haas
- Matthew Harris
- Tom Heremans
- Thomas Hoeren
- Vít Horáček
- Doug Isenberg
- Louis de Laramendi
- Alan L. Limbury
- Angelica Lodigiani
- Kevin Madders
- Guido Maffei
- Cedric Manara
- Victoria McEvedy
- Alfred Meijboom
- Tobias Malte Müller
- Dinant Oosterbaan
- Steve Palmer
- Alistair Payne
- Flip Petillion
- Kristina Rosette
- Jane Seager
- Thomas Schafft
- David Taylor
- Jonathan Turner
- Etienne Wéry
The Czech Arbitration Court is finalizing the implementation of its new on-line UDRP platform and will start accepting first UDRP cases as of 1 January 2009.
23 June 2008
ECTA'S ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO ADR RULES AND SUPPLEMENTAL RULES
23 May 2008
SECOND PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO ADR RULES AND SUPPLEMENTAL RULES REGARDING CLASS COMPLAINTS
The Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) organized earlier this year a public consultation on the proposed amendments to both the .eu ADR Rules and Supplemental Rules regarding (i) the implementation of a new “Class Complaint” procedure within .eu ADR which would enable multiple Complainants to join in a single Complaint against a suspected cybersquatter; and (ii) the implementation of further stage of electronic-only ADR which would not depend on the advanced electronic signatures.
The CAC received very useful comments and modified its original proposal accordingly. The CAC now invites all interested parties to comment on the revised amendments regulating the Class Complaint. The proposed amendments are available in a PDF format:
Comments on these proposals are encouraged to be submitted by 16 June 2008 via email to tereza.bartoskova@adr.eu. All comments received will be publicly posted at www.adr.eu.
30 April 2008
CORRECTION OF THE FRENCH VERSION OF THE ADR RULES
On April 30, 2008 we have made a correction of the French version of the ADR Rules. The expression "jours ouvrables" was replaced by more appropriate term "jours ouvrés". To find the definition of the "jours ouvrés" please review the Section A 1 of the ADR Rules.
18 April 2008
PANELIST MEETING
On March 28, 2008 the Czech Arbitration Court held its second Panelist meeting in Prague. Besides the discussion on internal issues a presentation was given by the Hon. Neil Brown QC on the celebrity arbitration. Please find it enclosed:
17 March 2008
ECTA'S COMMENTS ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO ADR RULES AND SUPPLEMENTAL RULES
5 February 2008
PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED CHANGES TO ADR RULES AND SUPPLEMENTAL RULES
The Czech Arbitration Court invites comments from interested parties to the proposed amendments to both the .eu ADR Rules and Supplemental Rules. The amendments seek (i) to implement a new procedure within .eu ADR which would enable multiple Complainants to join in a single Complaint against a suspected cybersquatter; and (ii) to implement further stage of electronic-only ADR which would not depend on the advanced electronic signatures. The proposed amendments are provided together with a Report by Prof. Chris Reed regarding the proposed electronic-only ADR processes. Both documents are available in a PDF format:
Reed report on strong authentication.pdf
Comments on these proposals are encouraged to be submitted by 7 March 2008 via email to tereza.bartoskova@adr.eu. All comments received will be publicly posted at www.adr.eu.
17 December, 2007
The Czech Arbitration Court is happy to announce that as of January 1, 2008 the current ADR Fees will be reduced by 10%.
The new schedule of ADR Fees shall be as follows:
25 April, 2007
The Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) is proud to announce that on April 10, 2007 the first electronically-signed Complaint was successfully submitted to the CAC. As of 1 January 2007, the CAC (www.adr.eu) has made it possible for parties to a .eu ADR Proceeding to submit all necessary documentation through an entirely electronic means, using an electronic signature based on a qualified certificate and created by a SSCD (secure-signature-creation device), thanks to an amendment to its Supplemental Rules, prepared in cooperation with the law firm Central European Advisory Group.
The first submission of an e-signed Complaint has been made by the law firm Lovells. Partner David Taylor who heads up a dedicated domain name practice in Paris commented: "The ability to carry out dispute resolution entirely online is an exciting development for .eu and domain name disputes generally. The use of electronic signatures and particularly those based on a qualified certificate created by an SSCD is still quite rare. Thanks to our close cooperation with the Czech Arbitration Court it proved possible for Lovells to file one of our Complaints in this way and thus our client has also benefited from a reduction in filing fees."
This marks the first .eu ADR Complaint to be undertaken and administered in an entirely electronic form, without any paper hard copies to be filed or sent.
As of 15 May 2007 another change of the Supplemental Rules comes into effect and the conditions for e-signature set by the CAC will be relaxed and will not require the signature to be created by an SSCD.
15 March, 2007
The CAC introduced new tool, which enables you to verify whether a dispute regarding concrete domain name(s) has already been started or not. Please see http://www.adr.eu/adr/disputed_domain_names/index.php.
15 March, 2007
Relaxation of the technical requirements related to the use of advanced electronic signatures (Section A5 of the ADR Supplemental Rules):
Based on the first experiences with the application of technical requirements on advanced electronic signatures (Section A5 of the ADR Supplemental Rules) the Czech Arbitration Court decided not to require that the advanced electronic signatures are created by a secure-signature-creation device (SSCD). The SSCDs are not widely available within EU and other implemented security measures of the on-line platform render the usage of the SSCDs preferable but not mandatory.
Therefore, as of 15 May 2007 new wording of Section A5 of the ADR Supplemental Rules is the following:
Electronic Signatures
When a Party is obligated to submit a hardcopy to the Provider, this obligation can also be satisfied when the Party uses advanced electronic signatures based on a qualified certificate for the purposes of signing and filing the respective documents via the on-line platform of the Provider. The Provider may include additional conditions for the use of electronic signatures during ADR Proceedings in Annex C of the ADR Supplemental Rules (Communication Instructions).
For more information regarding the usage of advanced electronic signatures, see section E-Signatures on this website.
7 February 2007
Please find below the proposed categorization for decisions against domain name holders. The categories have been divided into four basic groups, which are in turn subdivided into more descriptive subsections. Article 21 of Regulation 2007/874 and an analysis of the decisions which had been submitted were used for creating this categorization. The categories and subsections will be subdivided further as needed to reflect developments in .eu case law. Once the system is in use, Panelists will be categorizing their ADR decisions when issuing them, thereby creating a database which will be connected with a comprehensive search function on the on-line platform.
We would be very grateful for your input and point of view towards this preliminary categorization, and we would gladly accept your comments for consideration, which you may e-mail to the following address tereza.bartoskova@adr.eu. Please send us your comments by 15 March 2007. It is intended for this new feature to be utilized as soon as possible following a review of the information received.
CASES AGAINST DOMAIN NAME HOLDERS
I. Identical or confusingly similar domain name
II. Legitimate interest
III. Bad faith
IV. Procedural
I. Identical or confusingly similar domain name
- 1. Protected name
- Trademark
- i. Device mark
- ii. Well-known mark
- iii. Registered trademark
- iv. Unregistered trademark
- b) Geographical indications / Designation of origin
- c) Trade names / Company names / Business identifiers
- d) Family names
- e) Distinctive titles of protected literary and artistic works
- f) Public bodies
- g) Other
- Trademark
- 2. Rights to a name
- a) General
- b) Licensee
- c) Prior/ Better right(s)
- d) Other
- 3. Identical or confusingly similar
- a) Generic or descriptive domain name
- b) Misspelling
- c) Phonetically similar
- d) Transliteration / Translation
- e) Prefix + name
- f) Abbreviation
- g) Special Characters
- h) Complete name
- i) Other
- a) Prior use of a corresponding name
- b) Nonuse of the domain name
- c) Domain name holder has been commonly known by the domain name
- d) Legitimate noncommercial or fair use of the disputed domain name
- e) Generic words
- f) Other
- a) Holding domain name for purposes of selling or renting
- b) Bona fide offer of goods / services
- c) Blocking the owner of a protected name
- d) Disrupting professional activities of the holder of the prior right
- e) Creating the likelihood of confusion
- f) Pattern of conduct
- g) Other
- 1. Language trial
- 2. Complaint
- a) Multiple domain names
- b) Class action
- c) Other
- 3. Challenge of the withdrawal of the Complaint
- 4. Response
- a) A failed response / Late response
- b) Other
- 5. Additional evidence
- 6. Panel
- a) Single-member
- b) Multiple-member
- c) Challenge of panelist(s)
- d) Other
- 7. Interim decision
- 8. Other legal proceedings
- 9. Termination of the ADR Proceeding
- a) Decision – Complaint denied
- b) Decision - Complaint was initiated in bad faith; therefore, denied
- c) Decision - Domain name is transferred
- d) Decision - Domain name is revoked
- e) Settlement between the Parties
- f) Other
6 February 2007
Master Account
A master account is an expanded version of a standard account, designed to allow you to view all the cases on which you are authorized to work, either as a Complainant, Respondent, or an Authorized Representative, under a single login. All the case numbers of the individual ADR Proceedings will be listed on the left-hand side of the screen, with their accompanying information. By clicking on the case number, you are brought to the individual case file.
The special feature of this new tool is that it allows you to work on several cases at once, without having to log out and log back in for individual ADR Proceedings. You can put all the case for which you have been given the login details from an Authorized Representative, or from several Authorized Representatives, into one account for easier viewing. Remember that when you take over a case from an Authorized Representative, you are acting as the Authorized Representative in the dispute.
1. To build a master account, log in to the on-line platform under any of your current accounts, or create a new one for the case in which you are a party (for creating a new account, see FAQ V – Q1, step 1 [Link?]), and click on the button On-line Arbitration Platform to see the options given. Select “Take over other disputes” and follow the instructions.
2. Please enter the username and password of the Authorized Representative of the case you want to take over (How to Add an Authorized Representative please see FAQ V – Q1 (step 3)).
3. It must be stressed that your ability to view and work on that ADR Proceeding will be automatically canceled should the Complainant or Respondent removes or switches his Authorized Representative on the on-line platform (the Authorized Representative who gave you his login details for the case so that you could work on it). Should that happen, you would no longer see the ADR Proceeding in question. In the event the Complainant or Respondent reassigns the Authorized Representative back to his case, you must once again go through the same steps as above to take over the case and view it in your master account. It will not automatically reappear.
4. If you are either the Complainant or Respondent and want to stop an Authorized Representative’s access to your case (or the access of the one who took over the case from him), removing it from his master account, please follow these instructions:
4.1. Log in to the on-line platform and click on the case number.
4.2. Then, click on the following link:
4.3. By clicking on the button “Submit,” you will cancel his access to this case, and it will not be found on his master account.
Please remember that neither the Authorized Representative nor the one who took over the dispute may remove the case from his master account.
5. For newly initiated disputes
5.1. If you are a party in a new case, as either the Complainant or Respondent, and you want to allow the possibility for this case to be taken over to a master account, you must first have an Authorized Representative designated for this particular dispute. To do this, follow the steps described in FAQ V – Q1, step 3.
5.2. Then, provide the holder of the master account with the Authorized Representative’s login details, who will then follow steps 1 and 2 above.
1 November 2006
1. Amendment to the ADR Supplemental Rules and discounts on ADR Fees
During the summer of 2006, the Czech Arbitration Court sought public consultation on several issues related to the .eu ADR procedure. We received a number of very useful comments from individuals as well as sector associations and companies involved with the domain name practice. As a result, the Czech Arbitration Court prepared the following amendment to its ADR Supplemental Rules, which will come into force as of 1 January 2007 (after the completion of the corresponding localization of the amendment into all official EU languages), subject to receiving an approval from EURid:
1. Paragraph A3 is hereby modified as follows:
“Fees and Payment Instructions
The fees applicable for administrative procedures and obligatory payment instructions are specified in Annex A hereto and posted on the Provider’s website. The Provider may grant discounts on the applicable fees in justified cases. The conditions for obtaining discounts shall be published on the Provider’s website.”
2. Paragraph A5 is hereby inserted with the following wording:
“Electronic Signatures
When a Party is obligated to submit a hardcopy to the Provider, this obligation can also be satisfied when the Party uses advanced electronic signatures1 based on a qualified certificate1 and created by a secure-signature-creation device1, for the purposes of signing and filing the respective documents via the on-line platform of the Provider. The Provider may include additional conditions for the use of electronic signatures during ADR Proceedings in Annex C of the ADR Supplemental Rules (Communication Instructions).”
3. Paragraph A6 is hereby inserted with the following wording:
“Time Periods
The expiration of any given time period occurs at midnight (24.00) of the final day of that respective time period. When the last day of a deadline prescribed by the ADR Rules and/or ADR Supplemental Rules is not a Working Day, the time period shall be extended automatically to include the next Working Day following the last day of the deadline.”
4. Paragraph B1 (d) is hereby modified as follows:
“Language of the ADR Proceeding
In accordance with Paragraph A3 (c) of the ADR Rules, all relevant components of documentation submitted as part of a Complaint (including all annexes and schedules) must either be in the language of the ADR Proceeding or accompanied by a translation in the language of the ADR Proceeding.”
5. Paragraph B10 is hereby modified as follows:
“Publication of the Decision
- The Domain Name which is in dispute and is the subject of a Complaint;
- The case number;
- The Complainant and the Respondent.
The decision shall be published in the language of the ADR Proceeding. With respect to ADR Proceedings which are not conducted in English, the Provider shall also publish accompanying unofficial English translations of selected ADR decisions.
6. This amendment becomes effective as of 1 January 2007.
1 As defined in Directive 1999/93/EC on a Community framework for electronic signatures
Proposed changes on ADR Fees
The following changes/discounts to the ADR Fees will be implemented as of the date when the amendment of the .eu ADR Supplemental Rules mentioned above will come into force.
1. General reduction of all ADR Fees
The Czech Arbitration Court will reduce all ADR Fees by 7%.
2. Advanced electronic signatures
The Czech Arbitration Court will grant a 10% discount on the ADR Fees applicable to the Parties who use advanced electronic signatures to sign and file their respective procedural documents during ADR Proceedings.
3. Early withdrawal and/or termination of Complaints
The Czech Arbitration Court will grant a substantial discount on ADR Fees for ADR Proceedings which have been terminated early. Specifically, when a Complaint is withdrawn in accordance with Paragraph B2 (b) of the ADR Rules or an ADR Proceeding is terminated before the Panel has been appointed, the CAC will withhold a processing fee equal to the CAC’s share of the total ADR Fees and return the remainder of the ADR Fees to the respective Parties.
4. Confirmed challenge of the CAC’s decision to terminate a Complaint due to administrative deficiency
The Czech Arbitration Court will return the ADR Fees applicable for filing a challenge to the CAC’s decision to terminate an ADR Proceeding due to administrative deficiencies, if the Panel decides in favor of the Complainant. As well, the Czech Arbitration Court is considering additional ways of making the ADR process more cost-efficient. We will keep you informed of the results of this ongoing process.
2. Ongoing development of the .eu ADR on-line platform
The Czech Arbitration Court is proud to announce that a number of improvements to its on-line platform are being implemented this autumn. Among other things, the modifications will include the following upgrades of the on-line platform:
The Czech Arbitration Court will implement a number of improvements for its on-line platform, aimed at making the on-line platform more user-friendly. The main improvements include the following measures:
- Implementation of advanced electronic signatures;
- Further developments include:
- Implementing master accounts for parties involved in multiple ADRs, so that they may access all of their respective case files with a single secure login;
- Categorizing ADR decisions with the possibility of selecting ADR Decisions within a given category;
- Providing a more visible presentation of deadlines for every procedural step in the case file;
- Implementing a chat functionality to encourage broader discussion of ADR Decisions among Panelists and general public; and
- Implementing a number of additional smaller improvements of the on-line platform in order to increase user-friendliness of the on-line platform.
21 July 2006
On 20 July 2006 two members of the .eu ADR team, Mr. Zbynek Loebl and Ms. Daniela Cizkova participated as speakers at a seminar in London organized by ComLaude and Lovells. Their presentation focused on the first analysis of the Sunrise ADR decisions and the plans of the Czech Arbitration Court to further develop its on-line platform. The presentation given at the seminar can be downloaded here.
Public Consultation
The Czech Arbitration Court proposes (i) to modify the ADR Supplemental Rules; introduce certain discounts on ADR Fees; and (iii) further develop its on-line platform. We would be glad to receive any comments related to the two proposed matters by 15 September 2006 to the following email address: adreu@arbcourt.cz.
(i) Proposed amendment to the .eu ADR Supplemental Rules
After six months of administering the first .eu ADR Proceedings, the Czech Arbitration Court has reviewed the ADR Supplemental Rules and proposes certain modifications. These include, primarily, the option to use advanced electronic signatures for signing and filing documents during ADR Proceedings. The Parties who exercise this option will not need to submit hardcopies of documents to the Czech Arbitration Court, and they will be eligible for a discount of 5% on the applicable ADR Fees. Further discounts on applicable ADR Fees may be introduced for multiple complaints filed through service providers (lawyers, consultants, registrars, etc.). In addition, the Czech Arbitration Court proposes to include a “weekend rule” in the calculation of the time periods under the ADR Rules. In this scenario, the prescribed deadlines would be extended automatically to include the next Working Day should the time period expire during a weekend or public holiday. Other proposed changes include operational clarifications of the ADR Rules.
1. Paragraph A3 is hereby modified as follows:
“Fees and Payment Instructions
The fees applicable for administrative procedures and obligatory payment instructions are specified in Annex A hereto and posted on the Provider’s website. The Provider may grant discounts on the applicable ADR Fees in justified cases. The conditions for obtaining discounts shall be published on the Provider’s website.”
2. Paragraph A5 is hereby inserted with the following wording:
“Electronic Signatures
When a Party is obligated to submit a hardcopy to the Provider, this obligation can also be satisfied when the Party uses advanced electronic signatures based on a qualified certificate and created by a secure-signature-creation device , for the purposes of signing and filing the respective documents via the on-line platform of the Provider. The Provider may include additional conditions for the use of electronic signatures during ADR Proceedings in Annex C of the ADR Supplemental Rules (Communication Instructions).”
3. Paragraph A6 is hereby inserted with the following wording:
“Time Periods
When the last day of a deadline prescribed by the ADR Rules and/or ADR Supplemental Rules is not a Working Day, the time period shall be extended automatically to include the next Working Day following the last day of the deadline.”
4. Paragraph B1 (d) is hereby deleted in its entirety. In its place, Paragraph A7 is hereby inserted with the following wording:
“Language of the ADR Proceeding
In accordance with Paragraph A3(c) of the ADR Rules, all relevant components of documentation submitted as part of a Complaint (including all annexes and schedules) must either be in the language of the ADR Proceeding or accompanied by a translation in the language of the ADR Proceeding.”
5. Paragraph B10 is hereby modified as follows:
“Publication of the Decision
- the Domain Name that is in dispute and is the subject of a Complaint;
- the case number;
- the Date of Commencement of ADR Proceeding.
1) As defined in the Directive 1999/93/EC on a Community framework for electronic signatures
(ii) Proposed Discounts on ADR Fees
1. Advanced electronic signatures
The Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) would like to encourage only electronic ADR Proceedings. CAC proposes to amend the ADR Supplemental Rules in this respect. In addition, CAC intends to grant a 5% discount on the ADR Fees applicable to the Parties who will use the advanced electronic signatures to sign and file the respective procedural documents during ADR Proceedings.
2. Volume discounts for service providers
The Czech Arbitration Court (CAC) would like to encourage and support .eu ADR filings which would be administratively compliant, i.e., where the CAC would not need to notify Complainants of administrative deficiencies in their Complaints. Complaints that are administratively compliant require less work per ADR Proceeding for the CAC; and, the timeframe between filing a Complaint and the publication of the Decision is also shorter. The CAC recognizes that professional service providers may contribute significantly towards achieving this goal. Therefore, the CAC considers implementing possible discounts in ADR Fees related to multiple Complaints prepared with the assistance of professional service providers (e.g., registrars, lawyers, consultants, etc.).
As an initial step, we have prepared the CAC’s preliminary view on how the offer may work. The discount would be a percentage calculated against the total sum of ADR Fees collected with respect to an ADR Proceeding facilitated by the respective service provider, regardless of whether or not there would be a single panel or a three-member panel. The ADR Fees would be calculated annually, and the aggregate would be the basis for determining the percentage used, which would then be applied against the sum. Below, the value X is the aggregate.
| 40,000 EUR ≤ X ≤ 125,000 EUR: | 10% |
| 125,000 EUR < X ≤ 175 000 EUR: | 12% |
| 175,000 EUR < X ≤ 225,000 EUR: | 14% |
| 225,000 EUR < X ≤ 275,000 EUR: | 16% |
| 275,000 EUR < X ≤ 325,000 EUR: | 18% |
| 325,000 EUR < X | 20% |
The above-mentioned discounts would be subject to the following conditions:
- The Complaints must be administratively compliant to qualify for the discount; and
- The preferred form of communication for the Complaints must be by electronic means.
The implementation of the proposal would be through agreements concluded between the CAC and service providers wanting to participate in the suggested program.
3. 100% discount related to the disclosure of Documentary Evidence
The CAC intends to provide a 100% discount on the ADR Fees applicable to the Complainants who withdraw their Complaints within 10 Working Days from when the Documentary Evidence is disclosed to them. Currently, EURid requires Complainants to file Complaints before gaining access to the Documentary Evidence related to the disputed domain name. The CAC believes that Complainants who decide not to continue in ADR Proceedings after reviewing the relevant Documentary Evidence should be reimbursed for their respective ADR Fees.
(iii) Proposed developments of the on-line platform
The Czech Arbitration Court is working on a number of improvements for its on-line platform, aimed at making the on-line platform more user-friendly. The main improvements include the following measures:
-
Implementation of electronic signatures (see the proposed amendment of the ADR Supplemental Rules above). The Czech Arbitration Court is considering how best to implement the use of advanced electronic signatures to sign and file documents via its on-line platform. The following is the proposed rules and structure.
- Only advanced electronic signatures based on a qualified certificate and created by a secure signature-creation-device will be allowed.
- The advanced electronic signature would be used instead of a login to gain access to the on-line platform.
- Before accessing the on-line platform, a party using an advanced electronic signature will have to sign a statement (using his advanced electronic signature) that (i) his advanced electronic signature meets the prescribed criteria and (ii), after gaining access to the on-line platform, all the documents he files will be considered as if they were signed using his advanced electronic signature. Therefore, the Party will not have to sign each and every individual document he files, using his advanced electronic signature as a login.
- The Czech Arbitration Court will publish and maintain a non-exhaustive list of secure signature-creation-devices which the parties may use to create their advanced electronic signatures.
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Further developments include:
- Implementing master accounts for parties involved in multiple ADRs, so that they may access all of their respective case files with a single secure login;
- Categorizing ADR decisions with the possibility of selecting ADR Decisions within a given category;
- Resolving time-outs on the on-line platform;
- Providing a more visible presentation of deadlines for every procedural step in the case file;
- Providing more informative automatic e-mails with notifications for case developments on the on-line platform;
The Czech Arbitration Court would welcome any suggestions and comments related to your experience using the on-line platform.