Mediation in the EU

The draft Mediation Directive

On 22 October 2004 the Commission of the European Communities published a draft Directive entitled ‘On certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters’, with a target implementation date of 22 October 2007. The proposal is based on the principle of increased access to injustice and recognises the need for the increased use of mediation in this process as an alternative to judicial proceedings. The proposal seeks to achieve this by: (a) establishing minimum common rules of procedure within the EU; and (b) conferring upon courts the ability to encourage mediation but without making mediation compulsory or imposing sanctions on persons who refuse to mediate. The proposal is a limited one and does not seek to lay down the minimum qualifications of mediators other than by encouraging self-regulation. The EU is of course primarily concerned with the resolution of cross-border disputes, but the measures in the proposal will apply to all cases, even those confined to the territory of one Member State: were it otherwise, the result could be parallel regimes in each Member State.