The Malta Communications Authority (MCA) in its capacity as the Digital Services Co-ordinator for Malta has certified ADROIT (operated by RGOAL LTD., Company Registration Number C 69530) as an out-of-court dispute settlement body in accordance with Article 21 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (hereinafter referred to as the “Digital Services Act” or “DSA”) as the first ODS body in the EU for a duration of five (5) years from the 10th of July 2024.

ADROIT is certified with expertise in online shopping and online booking platforms, Content sharing and content driven marketing platforms, Crowdfunding and P2P lending, Web3, Defi, NFT and fintech platforms and protocols, Gaming, gambling and betting platforms B2B, B2C and P2P trading platforms and marketplaces.  

ADROIT is capable of settling disputes in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Maltese, Portuguese and Spanish.

The certification authorises ADROIT to settle the types of domestic and cross border disputes as listed in Art. 20 DSA arising between users and providers of online platforms related to content moderation decisions.

ADROIT is privately funded and completely independent from any government agencies or online platforms. ADROIT has at no point received any form of funding from any online platforms.

For the purpose of these Rules of Procedure the following terms shall be defined as set out below: 

1. “adjudicator” means the member of ADROIT’s team that is responsible for the settlement of the specific dispute;
2. “complainant” means a user who is the recipient of digital services provided by online platforms or very large online platforms (VLOPs) in the sense of the DSA, irrespective of whether this is a natural or a legal person;
3. “content moderation” means the activities, whether automated or not, undertaken by an online platform provider, that are aimed, in particular, at detecting, identifying and addressing illegal content or information incompatible with the terms and conditions, provided by a user, including measures taken that affect the availability, visibility, and accessibility of that information, such as demotion, demonetisation, disabling of access to it, or removal thereof, or that affect the ability of the user to provide that information, such as the termination or suspension of the complainant’s account;
4. “digital services coordinator (DSC)” means the competent authorities that were designated by the Member States as such in accordance with Art. 49 DSA which shall be responsible for all matters relating to supervision and enforcement of the DSA in that Member State;
5.  “executive board” shall mean the ADROIT Management consisting of the Directors and Shareholders of RGOAL LTD.
6. “illegal content” means any information that, in itself or in relation to an activity, including the sale of products or the provision of services, is not in compliance with Union law or the law of any Member State, irrespective of the precise subject matter or nature of that law;
7. “immediate remedy” means actions taken by the platform provider after notification of the pending dispute settlement case by which a content moderation decision was actioned or reversed in accordance with the request of the complainant prior to issuing a formal decision;
8. “panel of experts” is a group of legal and/or technical experts from different fields who may be appointed by the Board on a case by case basis as may be deemed necessary in the dispute settlement process.
9.  “online platform provider” means the provider of one or more online platforms or very large online-platforms as defined in the DSA.
10. “statement of reasons (SOR)” means a statement provided by the online platform provider in accordance with Art 17 DSA explaining why the information provided by the recipient of the service is illegal content or incompatible with the terms and conditions including information on the restrictions that were imposed; 
11. “terms and conditions” means all clauses, irrespective of their name or form, which govern the contractual relationship between the online platform provider and the complainant in the sense of Art 3 (1)of Directive (EU) 2019/770 including all community policies and similar documents that aim to regulate the interactions on the platform; 
12. “respondent” means the provider of the online platform that offers the digital services which are the subject of the complaint submitted by the complainant; 
13. “to offer services in the Union” means enabling natural or legal persons in one or more Member States to use the services of an online platform provider that has a substantial connection to the Union;
14. “substantial connection to the Union” means a connection of an online platform provider with the Union resulting either from its establishment in the Union or from specific factual criteria, such as a significant number of users in one or more Member States in relation to its or their population or the targeting of activities towards one or more Member States;
15.  “vexatious” means a pattern or series of claims submitted by the same Complainant, or by a group of coordinated Complainants, which are in principle admissible but are predominantly unfounded, disingenuous in intent, or manifestly aimed at causing inconvenience or disruption to the Respondent or to ADROIT rather than genuinely pursuing any of the legitimate objectives of the Digital Services Act, such as online safety, consumer protection, or the protection of fundamental rights. Such claims may be deemed an abuse of the redress mechanism established under Article 21 DSA.

Furthermore, all definitions provided in Art. 3 DSA shall have the same meaning for the purpose of these Rules of Procedure.

1. Ethical Standards: ADROIT holds itself, its dispute settlement process and all its members of staff to a very high standard of integrity, impartiality and independence at all times. All of ADROIT’s Employees and Adjudicators have committed to the rules laid out in ADROIT’s Code of Conduct and are contractually obliged to fulfil their duties professionally, impartially and in accordance with the highest ethical standards of their profession at all times. ADROIT’s team will avoid and report any personal conflicts of interest to the management and disputes will be reassigned to an impartial member of the team. 
2. Confidentiality: All information that ADROIT’s team becomes privy to in the course of the dispute settlement is to be treated as strictly confidential.
3. Equal treatment: ADROIT and ADROIT’s Adjudicators will always follow principles of impartiality, fairness, equity and good faith during the proceedings. All parties are to be treated equally. ADROIT operates under a zero-tolerance policy in respect to any form of discrimination on the basis of gender, origin, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability or other personal characteristics.
4. Good Faith Engagement: According to Art 21 (2) ADROIT’s proceedings are based on the assumption that the parties have a genuine intention to resolve the dispute and will thus respect the process and understand its requirements for honesty, sincerity, and reasonable mutual cooperation and consideration for the interests of the other party.
5. By engaging in the process the parties agree to these rules of procedure. 

1. ADROIT consists of the Executive Board, the Panel of Experts and its team of Adjudicators as defined above.
2. All of ADROIT’s Adjudicators are completely independent and impartial in their decision-making. There is no influence from third parties or from the Executive Board of Directors.

1. Requests for dispute settlement (Complaints) have to be sent exclusively via the webform available in the relevant sections of ADROIT’s website adroit.legal. ADROIT does not accept submissions by regular email. 
2. The webform must be completed in one of the 8 European languages that ADROIT is certified for, namely Maltese, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch. 
3. The Complainant is required to closely follow the instructions provided for each section of the webform. 
4. It is the sole responsibility of the Complainant to truthfully submit all the available information necessary for ADROIT to make a decision including a concise and clear but complete presentation of the underlying facts and circumstances that are relevant to the dispute in the designated free text field(s) along with all evidence which supports the Complaint or which may otherwise assist in a better understanding of the dispute. Notwithstanding the foregoing, additional information or evidence may be submitted at a later stage provided that the submitting party demonstrates that such information or evidence did not exist or that the party was not aware, and could not reasonably have been aware, of its existence at the time of the submission of the Complaint. ADROIT shall have the discretion to determine the admissibility and relevance of any such additional material.
5. If the Complainant has filed an internal complaint with the platform’s internal complaint-handling system or notice and action mechanism, the relevant details shall be disclosed including any statement of reasons (SOR) issued by the relevant online platform or reference numbers.
6. An incomplete or an incorrectly completed webform may lead to a rejection of the Complaint as inadmissible. 
7. After submission of the completed webform, the Complainant will receive an on screen confirmation as well as a confirmation by email. 
8. ADROIT reserves the right to request additional information to verify the identity, residence and due legal representation of the Complainant and proof of residence in an EU country at any stage of the proceedings.

1. Prior to the opening of a case ADROIT will assess the admissibility of the Complaint submitted by the Complainant. Complaints submitted to ADROIT shall be admissible provided that:

a. The Respondent selected by the Complainant is an online platform provider as defined above and in Art 3 (i) DSA. 

b. The Complaint is directed against at least one of the four types of content moderation decisions taken by the Respondent on the grounds that the information provided by the Complainant constitutes illegal content or is incompatible with its terms and conditions and/or community guidelines as laid out in Art. 20 (1) DSA.

c. The Complaint is not based on moderation actions that are the result of mere user behaviour that is unrelated to and does not manifest itself through any form of sharing of information.

d. The Complainant is a resident of an EU member state or, if the Complainant resides outside the EU, the Complainant has demonstrated a reasonable connection of the online content in question to the EU.

e. The Complainant is above the age of 16, or is adequately represented by a parent, guardian or lawyer if under this age or if otherwise legally incapacitated.

f. The Complainant has submitted the complaint to ADROIT within one year from the date of the content moderation decision in question.

g. The Complainant has submitted a complete Complaint through the webform and has submitted any missing information upon request from ADROIT within the prescribed deadline.

h. The Complaint raised is not frivolous, vexatious or against good faith.

i. The same dispute is not currently and has not previously been considered by ADROIT or another out-of-court dispute settlement body, alternative dispute resolution entity or by a competent court, tribunal or any other competent forum and is not under investigation by any regulatory authority or law enforcement agency.

j. The Complaint is submitted in one of the languages ADROIT is certified to process.

1. According to Art 21 DSA, the admissibility of the Complaint does not require the prior completion of the internal complaint-handling process of the Respondent in accordance with Art. 20 DSA. ADROIT, however, recommends using such internal complaint mechanisms and reserves the right to require the completion of this process on a discretionary basis if deemed appropriate in a certain case. 
2. Where the Respondent has not taken any action in relation to such an internal complaint or in relation to a notice and action request for over seven (7) calendar days, a submission of the dispute to ADROIT shall be considered as admissible.
3. ADROIT can dismiss a dispute as inadmissible if a reason for its inadmissibility should become apparent from the information provided by the Respondent after the case had initially been admitted by ADROIT based solely on the information provided by the Complainant.
4. ADROIT reserves the right to decline to adjudicate or terminate any dispute if its resolution would directly affect the rights or legal interests of third parties who are not participants in the procedure.
5. ADROIT reserves the right to decline or terminate any dispute settlement  in cases that involve allegations or suspicions of criminal activities that in ADROITs sole discretion should be referred to the competent national enforcement agencies for further investigation. 
6. ADROIT reserves the right to decline or terminate any dispute settlement at any time in cases that require factual investigation beyond ADROIT’s scope as an Out-of-Court Dispute Settlement Body.
7. As part of the admissibility assessment ADROIT shall have the exclusive authority to determine whether or not the subject matter of a dispute falls within its certified areas of expertise as determined by the competent DSC. 

1. The Parties are not obliged to retain a lawyer or a legal advisor, but they may seek independent advice or choose to be represented or assisted by a third party at any stage of the procedure, including but not limited to Art. 86 DSA.
2. Minors below the age of 16 and persons otherwise legally incapacitated must be represented by a parent, guardian or lawyer at any stage of the procedure.
3. Any Complainant that is represented during the dispute settlement at ADROIT, has to clearly indicate this by presenting the respective mandate or authorisation document as evidence with the initial submission of the Complaint.
4. Complainants have the right to mandate a body, organisation or association to exercise the rights on their behalf, provided these fulfil the requirements of Art. 86 DSA. 
5.  Reasonable expenses that the Complainant has paid in relation to the dispute settlement shall be reimbursed according to Article 21(5).

1. After the Complaint is declared admissible, a case will be formally opened and a Case ID number will be allocated. Both parties to the dispute settlement process will be informed by email. 
2. ADROIT will then appoint an Adjudicator from ADROIT’s team with the required knowledge and experience, always ensuring that no conflict of interest exists. The respective case is assigned to the Adjudicator based on the internal distribution key and based on operational requirements and case load. 
3. The Executive Board has no influence on which Adjudicator is appointed for a case. The name of the Adjudicator will not be disclosed to either party to the process.
4. Standard disputes will be handled by a single Adjudicator.
5. Disputes that ADROIT in its sole discretion considers to be legally or technically complex, or that have an important legal bearing, will be reviewed and decided by a panel of 3 Adjudicators, which may include external experts as the case may require.
6. According to ADROIT’s Code of Conduct, any Adjudicators and any supporting experts are obliged to inform ADROIT without any undue delay whether they have any financial or personal interest in the outcome of the dispute or whether there exists any fact or circumstance or affiliation reasonably likely to create a presumption of bias.
7. Should any Adjudicators be conflicted, or if their impartiality or independence subject to any doubt, they will be withdrawn from the dispute and the dispute must be reallocated to an alternative Adjudicator who is not conflicted.  

1. The Respondent has to provide his response to the information presented in the Complaint within fourteen (14) calendar days of the opening of the case by using the link to the webform on the relevant section of ADROIT’s website that is included in the notification email, which is sent upon case opening. 
2. Upon reasonable and substantiated request ADROIT may extend the deadline for the submission of the Response in its sole discretion. ADROIT may, at its sole discretion, accommodate alternative technical channels for the submission of responses, such as secure electronic interfaces or other communication systems, upon request by the Respondent, provided that this is technically and operationally feasible. In any case, such arrangements shall be subject to mutual agreement and may involve additional costs to the operator.
3. The webform must be completed in one of the 8 European languages that ADROIT is certified for. 
4. The Respondent is required to closely follow the instructions provided for each section of the webform. 
5. It is the sole responsibility of the Respondent to truthfully submit all the available information necessary for ADROIT to make a decision including a concise and clear but complete presentation of the underlying facts and circumstances that are relevant to the dispute in the designated free text field(s) along with all evidence and documents which support the response and/or justify the original content moderation decision or which may otherwise assist ADROIT in a better understanding of the case. 
6. The Respondent shall provide any available information relating to any previous decision taken in regard to the subject matter of the case or during the internal complaint process, including any respective Statement of Reasons (SOR).
7. After submission of the completed webform the Respondent will receive an on-screen confirmation as well as a confirmation by email. 
8. ADROIT may, at its sole discretion, send email reminders where no response has been received from the Respondent within the prescribed deadline, but is under no obligation to do so according to these rules of procedure. 

1. Where the Respondent, after receiving the case information by email, recognises that the initial content moderation decision in question has been made erroneously, as a result of an oversight or where the Respondent otherwise decides at its discretion that  the situation will be immediately remedied by overturning the initial content moderation decision (or lack thereof), this should be communicated to ADROIT within fourteen (14) days by using the response webform and including evidence of such remedy.
2. ADROIT will then close the case without taking a formal decision on the merits of the case and raise a reduced fee for processing the matter. Where the webform is not received from the Respondent within the prescribed deadline or where the Complainant reasonably requests a formal decision regarding the legality of the initial content moderation decision within seven (7) days, ADROIT will issue a regular decision. 
3. Where the Respondent claims the remedy had been applied prior to receiving the notification of the case opening, including verifiable information evidencing the exact time and nature of the remedy applied to avoid process fees.
4. Where the Respondent has declared that an immediate remedy has been implemented, the Complainant shall verify within seven (7) calendar days from the date of notification that the corrective action has been executed accordingly. The Complainant must inform ADROIT, through the designated webform, whether the remedy has been correctly applied.
5. If no confirmation or objection is received from the Complainant within seven (7) calendar days, ADROIT will presume that the remedy has been successfully implemented and shall close the case accordingly.

1. ADROIT reserves the right to notify a party where essential information is missing that is needed to decide the case, provided this does in no way prejudice the impartiality or the efficiency of the proceedings. 
2. Information provided by the Complainant after the opening of the case may not be considered and follow-up emails will not be responded to as a matter of policy in the interest of impartiality and resourceful case management.

1. The responsible Adjudicator will assess the lawfulness  of the content moderation decision by the Respondent taking into consideration all information that has been provided by the parties during the preliminary stages of the process as well as by reference to the terms of the conditions of the respondent platform and any relevant applicable law, as the case may be. 
2. In accordance with Art 21 (4) DSA, ADROIT will make every effort to conclude the dispute settlement process within ninety (90) calendar days of receiving the complaint through the webform on ADROIT’s website, including all relevant information required to process the dispute. 

1. Where unforeseen factors like higher complexity of a particular case, lack of response from the respondent, technical/operational delays, any other delays outside of ADROIT’s control or force majeure cause a processing time longer than ninety (90) calendar days, ADROIT may terminate the proceedings or extend this period by another ninety (90) days in its sole discretion by simple notification to the parties. 
2. ADROIT may issue procedural directions or case management orders at any stage of the proceedings to ensure efficiency, clarity, and fairness. Such orders may address deadlines, clarification requests, or the sequencing of submissions, without affecting the impartiality or the non-binding nature of the process.
3. Once a dispute has been referred to ADROIT, the Complainant and the Respondent should refrain from any direct contact with each other to discuss the dispute. All communication should be channelled through ADROIT in the interest of transparency and efficiency.
4. All correspondence between ADROIT and the parties will be via webform or via e-mail referencing ADROIT’s relevant case ID number and will be made accessible to the opposing party upon request.
5. Correspondence can be sent to ADROIT in any of the certified process languages. Decisions will be issued in English.

ARTICLE 12 – DECISION

1. The dispute will be based primarily on the relevant information submitted by the Parties. 
2. ADROIT may, at its discretion, take into account publicly available information that is directly relevant to the case, however, it is under no obligation to do so if not included in the parties’ submissions. 
3. ADROIT has no investigative powers and decides on the basis of the information provided by the parties, who have the responsibility to provide the complete information supporting their position according to Articles 4 and 8. 
4.  ADROIT will therefore not investigate the facts of the dispute as a matter of principle and is under no obligation to request additional documents or evidence.
5. ADROIT will use its reasonable efforts to resolve the dispute between the Complainant and Respondent, taking into account the applicable terms and conditions, policies and applicable European and national legislation as well as these Rules of Procedure, always having regard to the established principles of equitable dispute settlement.
6. ADROITs process is conducted strictly between the Complainant and the Respondent. Adroit will not be able to involve third parties or weigh different user’s legal rights and interests against each other. 
7. Any decision that ADROIT renders must be clear to both parties and actionable, indicating whether the moderation decision in question should be upheld or overturned.
8. ADROIT’s process and decisions may be different from decisions issued by a competent court or tribunal of a member state in the same subject matter. 
9. ADROIT may, at its own initiative or upon request by a party within seven (7) calendar days of notification, correct any clerical, computational, or typographical errors in a decision.
10. According to Art. 21 (2) para 3 DSA, decisions issued by ADROIT do not impose a binding settlement of the dispute on the parties. 

ARTICLE 13 – DEFAULT DECISION

1. Should any of the Parties to the proceedings fail to provide a response or to provide additional information to the case within the prescribed timelines, ADROIT may at its sole discretion issue a decision based only on the submissions received from the parties hitherto, without any obligation to take into consideration any other information.
2. Similarly, ADROIT may issue a default decision if one of the parties shows a lack of good faith engagement and or general/disregard for the dispute resolution procedure. 

ARTICLE 14 – TERMINATION OF PROCEEDINGS

1. The proceedings shall terminate upon the following events:
   1. the complaint or response is manifestly incomplete despite requests for correction; or
   2. a party fails to respond to essential requests for information within prescribed deadlines; or
   3. a Party disregards the procedural principles set out in Article 2 of these Rules, including good faith, cooperation, fairness, and confidentiality; or
   4. the case involves allegations of criminal conduct or activities that ADROIT in its sole discretion deems to be most appropriately addressed by referral to competent authorities; or
   5. the case involves rights or interests of third parties that cannot be appropriately addressed in ADROIT’s procedure (also see Article 12(6))
   6. a Party acts in bad faith, abusively, or vexatiously, undermining the fairness or efficiency of the procedure.
1. a regular decision or an appeal decision has been issued by ADROIT, 
2. the Complainant declares that there is no longer any interest in continuing the process and withdraws the complaint at any point during the proceedings, or
3. the Respondent has informed ADROIT that an immediate remedy has been provided after the case was opened according to Article 9 of these Rules of Procedure, 
4. where ADROIT uses its discretion to discontinue the process without a decision where it transpires that continuation of the procedure is no longer possible or meaningful, including but not limited to cases where:
2.  ADROIT reserves the right to suspend or terminate the dispute settlement for cases against platforms that have significant amounts in unpaid outstanding invoices.

ARTICLE 15 – CASE CLOSURE

ADROIT shall formally notify both parties of the closure of proceedings, indicating whether the closure followed a final decision, withdrawal, inadmissibility, or termination on other grounds.

ARTICLE 16 – ENFORCEMENT 

1. In accordance with Article 21(2) of the Digital Services Act, decisions issued by ADROIT do not impose a binding settlement on the parties, but serve as reasoned recommendations.
2. The Respondent shall inform ADROIT within seven (7) days of receipt of the decision by means of the designated webform whether and to what extent it was implemented, including evidence, or provide a reasoned explanation for non-implementation.

ARTICLE 17- APPEAL 

1. In exceptional circumstances an appeal against a decision of ADROIT may be submitted through the designated webform within seven (7) days from the date on which the decision was notified to the parties based exclusively on the following grounds: 
2. Procedural Deficiency – where the proceedings were not conducted in accordance with these Rules of Procedure, in a manner that gives rise to a serious risk of injustice.
3. Public Policy Contravention – where the decision is manifestly incompatible with the fundamental principles of public policy of the Union or of the Member State concerned. 
4. Evident Error or Clarification – where the decision contains an evident clerical, computational, or typographical error, or where clarification of an ambiguous part of the decision is strictly necessary, provided that such correction or clarification does not affect the substance of the decision.
5. No appeal shall be admissible on the basis of any alleged error in fact-finding, evaluation of evidence, or interpretation or application of law. Review shall be strictly confined to ensuring compliance with the essential procedural guarantees set out in these Rules and safeguarding the integrity of the process. In particular the appeal can not be misused to submit information that a party could have submitted previously.
6. Appeals lodged in bad faith or manifestly outside the scope of the above grounds may be summarily dismissed.

ARTICLE 18 – DISPUTE SETTLEMENT FEE

1. Dispute settlement at ADROIT is free of charge for Complainants. However, ADROIT reserves the Right to charge fees to the Complainant in cases where the complaint was vexatious or manifestly raised in bad faith according to Art 21 (5) para. 2 DSA.
2. For Respondents, the fee schedule is applicable, which is subject to regular revision and which is made available in its current version on ADROIT’s website. The fees charged to the Respondent shall under no circumstances exceed ADROIT’s actual cost for the specific dispute settlement, according to Art. 21 (5) DSA.

ARTICLE 19 – RECOURSE TO COURT

1. Participation in ADROIT’s procedure shall not preclude the possibility of seeking redress through court proceedings. The Complainant may at any time during the proceedings take recourse to court.
2. Decisions issued by ADROIT may be relied upon by the parties in judicial or administrative proceedings as evidence of good-faith engagement in out-of-court dispute settlement and as a record of the facts and reasoning assessed during the ODS procedure.

ARTICLE 20 – CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION

1. Upon submission of a Complaint the Complainant has provided consent to the use of his data which provides sufficient legal basis for transfer and use of any data from the Respondent to ADROIT for the purpose of this procedure.
2. ADROIT will treat all information, records, reports or other documents received during the dispute settlement process as confidential and will handle such data in strict compliance with all relevant data protection regulations. 
3. ADROIT will not be compelled to disclose such records or to testify or give evidence in regard to the dispute settlement in any adversary proceeding or judicial forum. 
4. Information relating to or affecting criminal proceedings, measures related to the prevention of fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing, will not be disclosed to avoid jeopardizing prevention, investigation or  enforcement efforts. 
5. ADROIT may not be able to disclose any information submitted by a party to the other Party, where this would result in an exposure of personal data related to third parties contained therein, or where such data would render third parties identifiable or if other vital interests, security or legal rights are adversely affected. ADROIT may also refrain from reproducing such data in the decision. 
6. Without prejudice to the confidentiality obligations set out in this Article, ADROIT may publish anonymised excerpts or summaries of decisions that raise questions of principle or contribute to the consistent application of the Digital Services Act, provided that no identifying information about the parties is disclosed. 

ARTICLE 21 – REPORTING AND ARTICLE 53 DSA

1. Without prejudice to the confidentiality obligations set out in these Rules, ADROIT may collect, process, and use aggregated, anonymised, or otherwise non-identifiable information derived from its dispute settlement proceedings for the purposes of fulfilling its transparency and reporting obligations under the Digital Services Act or for improving its procedural framework.
2. ADROIT may, where necessary for the preparation of such transparency reports, disclose limited information relating to the identity of online platforms, particularly for the purpose of indicating implementation rates, the level of compliance, cooperation and good faith engagement under Art 21 DSA, or systemic issues, provided that such disclosure is strictly proportionate, relevant to the objectives of the report, and does not compromise any confidential information about individual complainants or third parties.
3. No information shall be published in a manner that would allow the identification of individual Complainants or the disclosure of commercially sensitive data unrelated to the subject matter of the report.
4. ADROIT reverses the right to inform or lodge a complaint with the competent  Digital Services Coordinator under Art. 53 DSA at its discretion against any Respondents in procedures that were terminated according to Article 14 or where a default decision was issued if such Respondent has disregarded the proceedings according to these Rules of Procedure or otherwise failed to observe their duty under Art 21(2) DSA to engage in the dispute settlement in good faith or failure to pay the process fees according to Article 21 (5) DSA and Article 18 of these Rules of Procedure. ADROIT may also inform the European Commission and is under no obligation to inform the Respondent of any such complaints filed. 

ARTICLE 22 –  LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

To the maximum extent permitted by law, ADROIT rejects any liability for any loss, damage, loss of opportunity or inconvenience arising from any dispute between a Complainant and a Respondent, the failure of a party to comply with the process and/or any agreement reached between the parties, the process itself, or the conduct of ADROIT in relation to the dispute.

ARTICLE 23 – GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION

1. In the dispute settlement process ADROIT will have regard to the laws and legal principles established in the European Union as well as  the laws of its member states.
2. These rules of procedure and the relationship between ADROIT and either party to the dispute settlement process shall be subject to Maltese law and to the jurisdiction of the Maltese courts.
3. The dispute will be based primarily on the relevant information submitted by the Parties. 
4. ADROIT may, at its discretion, take into account publicly available information that is directly relevant to the case, however, it is under no obligation to do so if not included in the parties’ submissions. 
5. ADROIT has no investigative powers and decides on the basis of the information provided by the parties, who have the responsibility to provide the complete information supporting their position according to Articles 4 and 8. 
6.  ADROIT will therefore not investigate the facts of the dispute as a matter of principle and is under no obligation to request additional documents or evidence.
7. ADROIT will use its reasonable efforts to resolve the dispute between the Complainant and Respondent, taking into account the applicable terms and conditions, policies and applicable European and national legislation as well as these Rules of Procedure, always having regard to the established principles of equitable dispute settlement.
8. ADROITs process is conducted strictly between the Complainant and the Respondent. Adroit will not be able to involve third parties or weigh different user’s legal rights and interests against each other. 
9. Any decision that ADROIT renders must be clear to both parties and actionable, indicating whether the moderation decision in question should be upheld or overturned.
10. ADROIT’s process and decisions may be different from decisions issued by a competent court or tribunal of a member state in the same subject matter. 
11. ADROIT may, at its own initiative or upon request by a party within seven (7) calendar days of notification, correct any clerical, computational, or typographical errors in a decision.
12. According to Art. 21 (2) para 3 DSA, decisions issued by ADROIT do not impose a binding settlement of the dispute on the parties.