Electronic commerce enables the consumer to buy products from around the world without leaving his home. But what happens if the CD-ROM drive you ordered from a Californian Internet site turns out defective on delivery and the merchant refuses to refund your money? Hire a lawyer at $200 an hour? The CD drive is only worth $150 US.

Karim Benyekhlef and Pierre Trudel, professors in the Law School and researchers in the Public Law Research Centre at Université de Montréal, started Cybertribunal in 1998, a project designed to settle this kind of conflict directly on the Internet. It was a daring initiative: they wanted to bring opposing parties and an unbiased third party, or virtual mediator, together online. "People were sceptical about the idea that online conflicts could be settled," Professor Benyekhlef recalls. Not only did the two researchers prove the sceptics wrong, they have just received a grant from the European Commission (EC) to develop the second generation of their virtual court. In addition attracting interest from a few international organizations, the Cybertribunal has settled some one hundred disputes.

To use the services of <Ecodir.org>, the conflict resolution site, the consumer first fills out a form in which he explains details of the transaction and the reasons for the complaint. An email message is then sent to the seller to inform him. He is asked to present his version of the facts. The parties can reach agreement at this stage, notes Professor Benyekhlef. But if the dispute drags on, a mediator is asked to participate in the exchanges and propose solutions. If the discussions are still deadlocked, the mediator makes a more formal recommendation. The mediator always comes from a third country. The Université de Montréal researchers are working with French, Belgian, Irish, Spanish and German colleagues.

Neither party is required to accept the mediator's recommendation, but the seller has every reason to cooperate, since the plaintiff could denounce the seller on the Web, which would be harmful to his reputation.

Currently, the services of the virtual court are free of charge. Funding from the EC and the volunteer work by mediators keep the service accessible. "Access fees are being considered in order to avoid frivolous complaints, but we want the service to remain affordable for small consumers."

Researcher: Karim Benyekhlef
Telephone: (514) 343-7451
Funding: European Commission