Do you still have to link to the European online dispute resolution platform in your store?

Q&A • Law

Do you still have to link to the European online dispute resolution platform in your store?

For years it was a footer obligation for every European store. That ended, and today the problem is the opposite: the link is still there and no longer leads anywhere.

Short answer

  1. The European online dispute resolution platform ceased operating on 20 July 2025.
  2. The obligation to link to it disappeared when Regulation (EU) 524/2013 was repealed.
  3. Keeping the link is a risk: it points to a service that no longer exists and may count as misleading information.
  4. The duty to inform about alternative dispute resolution still applies if you are a member of an ADR body.
  5. Consumer arbitration boards and regional consumer bodies remain the usual route in Spain.

What to review in your legal texts

  1. Search for «online dispute resolution», «ODR» and «ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr» across the whole site.
  2. Check the footer, the legal notice, the terms of sale and the order confirmation emails.
  3. Replace the link with real complaint information: the customer service email and the response time.
  4. If you belong to an alternative dispute resolution body, state its name and website.

Practical example

Example: a home decor store copied its footer from a 2019 template. It still shows «You may use the European online dispute resolution platform» with the original link. The customer clicks, lands nowhere and concludes the store is stalling. Replacing that paragraph with a complaints email and a seven-day response commitment fixes the issue and improves trust.

Common mistakes

  • Leaving the link because «it does no harm»: it points to a service that no longer exists.
  • Removing the link and putting nothing in its place, leaving no clear complaints channel.
  • Claiming membership of a consumer arbitration body without actually being a member.
  • Updating only the footer and forgetting the automated order emails.

How 4shopy helps

  • The legal notice and terms of sale are editable pages, not text baked into the template.
  • The footer is edited in one place and the change applies across the whole store.
  • Order email templates are editable too, so the text does not go stale there.
  • Complaints land in the same inbox as the orders, with the customer history alongside.

See also