Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY ON

MEDIATION

KEEPING THE ESSENCE OF MEDIATION
By Antoine Masson & Fiona Breen

The emergence of a proposed Directive1 on certain aspects of mediation
in civil and commercial EU matters presents an opportunity to assess the
nature of mediation. On the October 28, 2006, the Commission issued the
proposed Directive to improve mediation, create a minimum standard for
mediation, and regulate cross-border mediation.2 Better access to justice is
one of the key objectives of the EU’s policy to establish an area of freedom,
security, and justice in which individuals and businesses should not be
prevented or discouraged from exercising their rights by the incompatibility
or complexity of legal and administrative systems in the Member States.3
To achieve those objectives, the proposed Directive provides, for example,
that the limitation period, which can continue to run during mediation,
would be suspended. A mediation agreement would automatically be
confidential and the providers of mediation service would be allowed to