Rafael Catalá, former Minister of Justice and current president of the Spanish Mediation Center, insists on the importance of prior mediation as a condition for accessing judicial proceedings.
Prior mediation
This requirement can be key to boosting the economy and the proper functioning of the judicial system in times like the current one, accentuated by the exponential development of litigation between individuals and companies as an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The CEM representative emphasizes that mediation is “the great commitment of the European Union to fulfill its objective of optimizing the rule of law and guaranteeing better access to the Administration of Justice.”
Positive data
The data does not lie, and companies that access this conflict resolution instrument usually resolve their disputes within a period of approximately 2 months, presenting a success rate of 80%.
However, not as many resort to this resource as they would like, and commercial and civil mediation continues to be a minority procedure in our country as well as in Europe.
“Many businessmen are unaware of its existence and, on numerous occasions, confuse it with other extrajudicial alternatives, such as arbitration or conciliation,” says Catalá.
That is why the Draft Law on Procedural Efficiency Measures, which contemplates the prior mediation next to other appropriate methods of conflict resolution (MASC), is part of the Government's plan to modernize the judicial system and is expected to reach the Cortes this year in the form of a legislative initiative.
