Two new documents on mediation prepared within CEPEJ
Today, mediation is one of the most popular alternative ways of dispute resolution in developed countries.
The integration of this institute into the judicial system allows to reduce the work load of judges and to shorten the time of case hearing, and consequently allows to shorten the expenses of citizens for litigation and to promote the availability of justice.
Active work on the development of international documents in the field of mediation is being carried out within the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).
In 2017, on the basis of CEPEJ a special working group on mediation (CEPEJ-GT-MED) resumed its work, and prepared a Mediation Development Toolkit, a set of basic documents that can be used to establish mediation in the CoE Member States.
In continuation of the work in this area, during the last plenary session of CEPEJ, 13–14 June 2019, two other important documents on mediation were adopted, namely: the European Handbook for Mediation Lawmaking (hereinafter referred to as the “Handbook”) and the Guidelines on Designing and Monitoring Mediation Training Schemes (hereinafter referred to as the “Guidelines”). These documents are intended for the staff of courts and the Ministries of Justice of the CoE Member States and are aimed at improving and developing the functioning of the judicial systems in these countries.
The Handbook outlines the best practices of Council of Europe member states and demonstrates how the provisions of the Mediation Development Toolkit can be effectively put into practice. This document provides the national legislator with recommendations that may be useful in developing and adopting mediation legislation or amending existing legislation to align national regulation with international standards and to ensure high quality mediation in the CoE Member States.
The Handbook consists of two parts. The first contains recommendations for developing a draft law on mediation. Each recommendation is accompanied by a real-life example – an extract of the legislation of one of these 18 CoE Member States or an international document. These examples shall help illustrate how recommendations could be implemented in practice in the respective national jurisdictions.
The second part of the Handbook “Explanatory note” explains in detail the practical importance and importance of the first part of the recommendations, giving as an example a comparative analysis of the national mediation legislation of the 18 countries mentioned. The Explanatory note also refers to various documents adopted by CEPEJ within the framework of the Mediation Development Toolkit and provisions of international instruments such as the Singapore Mediation Convention, the UNCITRAL Model Law (2018) and certain aspects of Directive 2008/52/EC on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters.
The purpose of the Guidelines is to support the CoE Member States in the preparation of effective and high quality training plans for mediators, the harmonization of minimum standards in the field of training mediators and the provision of a sufficient number of well-trained mediation specialists in each of the CoE Member States.
Reference:
The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) was established on September 18, 2002, in accordance with Resolution (2002) 12 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The CEPEJ consists of 47 member states of the Council of Europe. The purpose of CEPEJ work is to increase the efficiency of the work of the bodies in the field of justice in the context of the implementation of the standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe.
It is the initiator of many studies in this field, in particular of a comparative nature, prepares draft recommendations aimed at promoting the application of various CoE documents in order to combine the two key principles of justice: fairness and effectiveness.
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