Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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COMMENT: THE CONDITION OF POLISH

COMMERCIAL MEDIATION

Piotr Nowaczyk*

In Poland, mediation represents a relatively new and
fashionable topic. Gradually, mediation has been introduced into
resolution of collective disputes, and into other areas of law,
including labor, penal, administrative, tax, juvenile law, consumer
law, and finally, the civil procedure code. The latest change,
introduced on July 28, 2005, is considered to have been
revolutionary. Mediation has become trendy. Young people are
writing theses on the topic and want to specialize in mediation.
Numerous conferences are being organized. Everybody is
repeating again and again that mediation is easier, quicker and
more convenient than a trial.

As in most countries, Poland draws a distinction between
contractual and judicial mediation. Judicial mediation occurs
when a judge refers the parties to a mediator, while contractual
mediation occurs when the parties themselves approach a
mediator.

The Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce
in Warsaw has been providing contractual mediation services for
59 years. The Business Mediation Center (Centrum Mediacji
Gospodarczej), established in 2002, mainly provides judicial
mediation. One may draw general conclusions about Polish
mediation practice from the statistics of both these institutions.

Since 2000, the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of
Commerce has received 122 requests for mediation. Mediations
have been conducted only in the 20 cases where the opposing
parties in the given disputes consented to it, however. In eight
out of these 20 cases, the parties reached amicable settlements.
Thus, if the number of amicable settlements were to be compared
to the number of requests for mediation, the success rate is a
modest 6.6 percent. If we compare the number of amicable