The (emerging) needs for ADR in retail payment systems: Mediation

A number of empirical studies have demonstrated that rapid development of technology and innovation in payment systems (i.e. the use of cards and electronic networks, electronic money, mobile payments and the Internet) has triggered the significant increase in retail payment transactions around the world. However, this development has also brought new problems. As the relationship between payment providers and consumers is getting more and more sophisticated, so are the disputes arising among them. Long, exhausting and time-consuming traditional dispute resolution seems not suitable to solve such problems since retail payment systems have a unique characteristic: it is used for small value payments only. From an economic point of view, it is not worth for consumers going before the court to solve the disputes they face on retail payments for the total cost in doing so will far exceed the value of the payment. It then emerges the needs for alternative dispute resolution to solve such disputes. This paper reviews such needs and argues that mediation is the most suitable ADR to fill-in the needs without disturbing the existence of law and legal proceeding itself.