ODR Platform Abolished: Remove the Link From Your Website

If your website has a link to the EU Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform in the footer or terms and conditions, it's pointing to a dead page. The platform was shut down on 20 July 2025.

Thousands of online shops in the Netherlands still have this link. It's an easy fix. Here's what happened and what you need to do.

What the ODR platform was

The EU created the ODR platform in 2016 as an online tool for resolving disputes between consumers and online retailers. If a customer was unhappy with a purchase, they could file a complaint through the platform at ec.europa.eu/odr.

EU law required every business that sells online to consumers to include a link to this platform on their website. Most web developers added it to the footer or the terms and conditions page. Some cookie consent tools and legal text generators included it automatically.

Why it was abolished

The platform didn't work. The European Commission's own evaluation found that very few disputes were actually resolved through it. Most complaints were never picked up by the businesses they were filed against, and the process was slow compared to alternatives like chargebacks or national consumer authorities.

Between 2016 and 2023, over 10 million complaints were submitted. Fewer than 1% resulted in a resolution through the platform. The vast majority of businesses simply never responded. The Commission concluded the platform added administrative burden without delivering meaningful consumer protection.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40, published in January 2025, formally abolished the ODR platform. The website stopped accepting new complaints on 20 March 2025 and shut down completely on 20 July 2025.

What you need to do

Remove the link. Search your website for any reference to the ODR platform. Common places where it appears:

• Website footer
• Terms and conditions page
• General conditions (algemene voorwaarden)
• Privacy policy (some templates included it here too)
• Confirmation emails sent after purchases
• Checkout pages or order summary screens

Search for "ec.europa.eu/odr" or "online dispute resolution" in your website files and CMS. Remove the link and the accompanying text about the ODR platform.

If your terms and conditions were generated by a legal template service, check whether they've released an updated version. Many Dutch providers (like ICTRecht and Juralink) have published updated templates.

Check your marketplace listings too. If you sell on platforms like Bol.com or Amazon, your seller terms may also reference the ODR platform. Update those separately.

CMS-specific instructions

The steps to remove the ODR link depend on how your website is built.

WordPress

In WordPress, the ODR link can hide in several places:

• Theme files. Go to Appearance > Theme File Editor and check footer.php. Search for "odr" or "dispute resolution." If you use a child theme, check the child theme's footer.php first.
• Widgets. Go to Appearance > Widgets. Check every widget in your footer sidebar. The ODR link is often in a "Custom HTML" or "Text" widget.
• Elementor. If you use Elementor, open your footer template in the Elementor editor (Templates > Theme Builder > Footer). Click through the text blocks and look for the ODR reference. It's usually in a text widget or HTML widget at the bottom.
• WooCommerce templates. WooCommerce has its own set of email templates and checkout page text. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails and click into each email template. Check the footer text area. Some WooCommerce legal add-ons (like "Germanized" or "WooCommerce EU Compliance") injected the ODR link automatically. Update those plugin settings.
• Legal pages. Check Pages in your WordPress admin and search for "odr" across all pages. Pay special attention to your terms and conditions, impressum and privacy policy pages.

If you find the text hardcoded in a plugin file, don't edit the plugin directly. Look for a setting in the plugin's admin panel to disable or update the ODR text. Plugin updates would overwrite your changes.

Shopify

In Shopify, check these locations:

• Footer. Go to Online Store > Themes > Customize. Open the footer section and check all text blocks and link lists. Remove any ODR link or text.
• Legal pages. Go to Settings > Policies. Shopify has dedicated fields for Terms of Service, Refund Policy, Privacy Policy and Shipping Policy. Search each one for "odr" or "dispute."
• Theme code. If the link was added to the Liquid template directly, go to Online Store > Themes > Edit Code. Search across all .liquid files for "odr" or "ec.europa.eu."
• Third-party legal apps. If you use apps like Consentmo, GDPR/CCPA compliance apps or legal text generators, check their settings for ODR references.

WooCommerce (standalone)

WooCommerce deserves a separate mention because its email templates are a common hiding spot:

• Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Emails. Click "Manage" on each email type (New Order, Processing, Completed, etc.) and check the "Additional content" field.
• Check WooCommerce > Settings > Advanced > Page setup to find which pages are used for terms, checkout and the my-account area. Review each of those pages.
• If you use the "Germanized for WooCommerce" plugin, go to its settings and look for the ODR section. Newer versions have removed it, but older configurations may still have it enabled.

Email templates and automated messages

The ODR link isn't just on your website. It may also be embedded in transactional emails that go out automatically. These are easy to forget because you set them up once and never look at them again.

Check the following:

• Order confirmation emails. The most common place. Many legal generators added the ODR link to the footer of every order confirmation.
• Shipping notification emails. Some templates include legal boilerplate in the footer of shipping updates.
• Invoice emails. If your invoicing tool sends emails with legal text in the footer, check those too.
• Account creation emails. Welcome emails sometimes include a legal section.
• Abandoned cart emails. If you use a cart recovery tool, its templates may include outdated legal links.

For each of these, find the template editor in your e-commerce platform or email service. Search the template HTML for "odr" or "ec.europa.eu/odr" and remove the reference.

If you use an external email service like Mailchimp, Klaviyo or Brevo for transactional emails, check the footer templates there. They often have a shared footer that appears on every email, which is where the ODR link tends to live.

What replaced the ODR platform?

Nothing replaced it directly. The EU did not launch a successor platform.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 took a different approach. Instead of maintaining a centralized dispute resolution website, the EU shifted focus to strengthening national consumer protection bodies and existing ADR (alternative dispute resolution) schemes. The reasoning was that national bodies are closer to consumers, understand local law and can act faster than a centralized EU-wide system.

The European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) remains active. Consumers with cross-border disputes can still contact their national ECC office for free advice and mediation. In the Netherlands, that's the Europees Consumenten Centrum, part of the Stichting Juridisch Loket.

For domestic disputes, national ADR bodies continue to operate. The difference is that there's no longer a single EU website that consumers are directed to. Each country handles disputes through its own system.

Do you still need dispute resolution information?

Yes, but the requirements have changed.

You're no longer required to link to the ODR platform (since it doesn't exist). But other consumer protection obligations remain.

Under Dutch law (and the broader EU Consumer Rights Directive), you still need to:

• Provide clear contact information on your website so customers can reach you with complaints
• Inform customers about their right to cancel online purchases within 14 days
• Mention any alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies that apply to your industry, if you've committed to using one

If your industry has a specific dispute resolution body (geschillencommissie), such as the Geschillencommissie Thuiswinkel for webshops that are Thuiswinkel members, you still need to mention this on your website.

Country-specific ADR requirements

The rules around mentioning ADR bodies differ by country. If you sell across borders, pay attention to each market.

Netherlands. Dutch law (implementing the ADR Directive 2013/11/EU) requires businesses to inform consumers whether they participate in an ADR scheme. If you are a member of a geschillencommissie, you must name it and link to it. If you are not a member of any ADR body, you should still mention that in your terms. You're not required to participate, but you are required to inform. The main ADR body for general consumer disputes is De Geschillencommissie (degeschillencommissie.nl), which handles complaints across dozens of industries.

Belgium. Belgian businesses must inform consumers about the Consumer Mediation Service (Service de Mediation pour le Consommateur / Consumentenombudsdienst). You're required to mention it as a fallback option for unresolved complaints, regardless of whether you participate in a sector-specific ADR scheme. This is mandatory for all Belgian online sellers.

Germany. German law requires online sellers to link to the EU's ADR platform page maintained by the Bundesamt fur Justiz. Even though the ODR platform itself is gone, German businesses must still inform consumers whether they are willing or obliged to participate in dispute resolution before a Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle. Most small businesses state that they are "neither willing nor obliged" to participate ("Wir sind zur Teilnahme an einem Streitbeilegungsverfahren vor einer Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle weder verpflichtet noch bereit"). This text must appear on your website if you sell to German consumers.

For a broader overview of what EU consumer rights mean for your shop, see our dedicated guide.

Thuiswinkel Waarborg and other trust marks

If you're a member of Thuiswinkel Waarborg, the question isn't just about the ODR link. Thuiswinkel members have additional obligations around dispute resolution.

Thuiswinkel Waarborg members are required to submit to the Geschillencommissie Thuiswinkel for consumer disputes. This means you must:

• Mention the Geschillencommissie Thuiswinkel in your terms and conditions
• Include a link to their dispute resolution procedure
• Accept their binding rulings on consumer complaints

This obligation has nothing to do with the ODR platform. It comes from your Thuiswinkel membership agreement. Removing the ODR link does not affect your Thuiswinkel obligations. If anything, removing the ODR link makes your Geschillencommissie reference more visible and less confusing.

Other trust marks have similar requirements. WebwinkelKeur members must mention the WebwinkelKeur geschillencommissie. Qshops members have their own dispute resolution scheme. Check the membership terms of your trust mark to confirm what dispute resolution text you need to keep.

If you don't hold any trust mark and haven't voluntarily committed to an ADR body, you simply need to state on your website that you're not affiliated with an external dispute resolution scheme. Keep your complaint procedure clear and your contact details visible.

For most small online shops that are not members of a dispute resolution scheme, removing the ODR link and keeping your standard complaint procedure and contact details is enough. Make sure the rest of your legal pages are up to date too. Our KVK number requirements guide covers what Dutch businesses must display. Our Dutch webshop compliance checklist covers everything from order buttons to pricing rules. And our terms and conditions guide explains what belongs in your algemene voorwaarden.

How to check your website

Run a free scan of your website. It checks for outdated legal links, including references to the abolished ODR platform. The scan takes 30 seconds and flags exactly where the link appears.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get fined for still linking to the ODR platform?

There's no specific fine for keeping an outdated link. But linking to a dead government platform looks unprofessional, and it could signal to inspectors that your legal information hasn't been reviewed recently. More practically, it confuses customers who click the link and land on a 404 page.

Do I need to replace the ODR link with something else?

No direct replacement exists. The EU has not launched a successor platform. Just remove the ODR link and make sure your website still has clear contact information and a complaint procedure. If you're in Germany or sell to German consumers, replace the ODR reference with the required Verbraucherschlichtungsstelle statement.

My legal template still includes the ODR link. What should I do?

Contact your template provider and ask for an updated version. If they haven't updated it by now, that's a red flag about the quality of their service. In the meantime, manually remove the ODR reference from your website. Don't wait for them to act.

Does removing the ODR link affect my Thuiswinkel Waarborg certification?

No. The ODR link and the Thuiswinkel geschillencommissie reference are two separate things. Thuiswinkel Waarborg has confirmed that removing the ODR link is correct. Your obligation to mention the Geschillencommissie Thuiswinkel in your terms and conditions remains unchanged.

I sell to customers in multiple EU countries. Do I need different dispute resolution text per country?

If you actively target consumers in different countries, yes, the ADR information requirements can differ. German law is the strictest: you must explicitly state whether you participate in dispute resolution proceedings. Belgian law requires a reference to the Consumentenombudsdienst. For Dutch-only shops, stating your complaint procedure and any geschillencommissie membership is enough. When in doubt, include a short dispute resolution section in your terms and conditions that covers all the countries you sell to.

My website builder or plugin added the ODR link automatically. Will it come back after an update?

It depends on the plugin. Most reputable legal plugins and template generators have pushed updates that remove the ODR reference. But if you use an older or unmaintained plugin, it might re-add the link after an update. After removing it, check again next time you update your theme or legal compliance plugin.

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