EU Civil/Commercial Mediation Directive

On 21 May 2008 the EU Council of Ministers adopted directive 2008/52/ EC on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters, thereby bringing to an end 4 years of on-again, off-again negotiations. Members of our Advisory Board, and in particular Michel Kallipetis QC, were instrumental in negotiating its terms

Directive 2008/52/EC is designed to facilitate the voluntary use of mediation in cross-border  (as defined) civil or commercial disputes.  It called on the Member States to encourage and facilitate recourse to mediation (and the development of such procedures at national level if they do not already exist) and to put codes of conduct in place to ensure the quality of the process and those professionals who participate. 

The directive also provides solutions on issues such as confidentiality, the running of limitation periods, and the enforceability of agreements resulting from a mediation.

The directive was published in the L series of the Official Journal and entered into force in April, 2008; it was required to be implemented into national law by 21 May 2011. 

For the text, see:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:136:0003:0008:EN:PDF