The Vitebsk Regional Economic Court has joined the experiment on the implementation of out-of-court mediation

April 7, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The Vitebsk Regional Economic Court is involving participants in economic disputes in a legal experiment on the introduction of out-of-court mediation. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Olga Piskunovich, assistant to the chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Economic Court. Out-of-court mediation is an alternative to the conciliation procedure. In countries where mediation is widely used (USA, UK, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine), the opinion has been established that it is one of the ways to ensure access to justice. However, unlike judicial dispute resolution methods, which represent direct law enforcement, mediation rather uses law to resolve disputes based on fairness, taking into account the interests of both parties. Since March 1, 2011, a legal experiment on the development of out-of-court mediation as a means of resolving legal conflicts has been in effect in Belarus, which provides for the possibility of involving out-of-court mediators to resolve economic disputes. A distinctive feature of out-of-court mediators from judicial conciliators is the fact that specially trained individuals work with the parties, using the mediation methodology for conflict resolution in their work. Currently, in Belarus, based at the Conflict Resolution Center of the Belarusian Republican Union of Lawyers, 13 people have undergone special training and have a qualification certificate as conflict resolution specialists (out-of-court mediators). According to experts, the potential of an out-of-court mediator can be most effectively used in resolving complex categories of disputes (incorporation, multiple claims with one participant, etc.), the consideration of which requires significant time costs for examining evidence, and the decision does not resolve the conflict situation as a whole. It is also advisable to apply the conciliation procedure with the participation of an out-of-court mediator in cases where the parties have a voluntary intention to resolve the arising disputed legal relations through negotiations. It is expected that work on the draft law "On Mediation" will be completed in September of this year, and in November 2011, in accordance with the legislative work plan, it will be submitted for consideration by the deputies of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly. As Olga Piskunovich noted, often the resolution of conflicts arising in the business environment in court proceedings is associated with significant time and financial costs. Taking this into account, in recent years, alternative dispute resolution institutions, among which mediation and arbitration courts should be particularly noted, have begun to play an increasingly important role in resolving economic disputes. If business entities of the region wish to resolve disputed legal relations with the participation of out-of-court mediators, organizational issues can be resolved on an individual basis between the parties and the mediator with the assistance of the regional economic court.-0-