A first for Romania: SAL-Fin joins the European cross-border network FIN-NET

Bucharest, 10 July 2023 - The Alternative Dispute Resolution Entity in the Non-Banking Financial Field, organised within the Financial Supervisory Authority, was recently accepted by the European Commission to be part of FIN-NET. This is the network of national organisations in the European Economic Area that settle out-of-court consumer disputes in the field of financial services.

SAL-Fin is the only alternative dispute resolution entity in Romania accepted by the European Commission to join FIN-NET, as it meets all the conditions required to be part of this network.

FIN-NET was set up by the European Commission in 2001 to promote cooperation between alternative dispute resolution entities in the field of financial services and to provide consumers with easily accessible alternative dispute resolution procedures for cross-border disputes involving financial services. The network also aims to identify and popularise best practices among its members through training and exchange of experience.

Any authority in the European Economic Area (the countries of the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) can join FIN-NET if it is responsible for the out-of-court settlement of disputes related to the financial sector and if it complies with the principles set out in the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Directive 2013/11/EU.

A document called a Memorandum of Understanding defines the procedures by which members cooperate to settle cross-border financial disputes out of court.

FIN-NET currently has 61 members from European Economic Area countries (57 of which are from the 27 EU Member States), plus 6 affiliated members from outside the European Economic Area. The full list of FIN-NET member ADR entities can be found here.