At the Third Summit of the Council of Europe (Warsaw, May 2005), the Heads of State and Government decided, amongst other things, “to help member states to deliver justice fairly and rapidly and to develop alternative means for the settlement of disputes”1 . Under the authority of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), a Working Group on mediation (CEPEJ-GT-MED) was established. Its task is to enable a better implementation of the Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers concerning mediation (mediation in family, civil and penal matters).
In particular, the Working Group will see to
- assessing the impact in the States of the existing Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers concerningfamily mediation (Rec(98)1), mediation in penal matters(Rec(99)19), alternatives to litigation between administrative authorities and private parties (Rec(2001)9) and mediation in civil matters (Rec(2002)10);
- drafting guidelines and specific measures aimed to ensure an effective implementation of the existing Recommendations;
- suggesting, if appropriate, areas in which it could be useful to draft new international legal instruments or amendments to existing ones, while taking into account the work of other institutions, and in particular the European Union.2
During their first meeting, the GT-MED drew up a questionnaire including questions on the four different types of mediation. This questionnaire was distributed in 12 countries (Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and UK). In total 52 replies were received. Recently, the report on the results of this questionnaire, the "analysis on assessment of the impact of Council of Europe recommendations concerning mediation" was made available on the website of the GT-MED as a working document.3
Concerning penal mediation, the document suggests ways of improving knowledge and raising awareness. Furthermore, it considers appropriate proposals for example draw up common guidelines on specific guarantees for participation of minors and specify the framework of the training of mediators. Finally, the document poses some questions which need more thorough examination, such as how justified is the reluctance to apply mediation to minors? What are the time-limits that should be taken into account in penal mediation?4
Based on the outcome of the questionnaire, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) drafted "Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing Recommendation concerning Penal mediation"5. The guidelines can be found on the website. This draft needed to be commented on by the members of the GT-MED by the 15th of September 2007. Therefore, the result can be expected in due time.
Furthermore, the Working Group on Mediation also made a report on "The Quality of Penal Mediation in Europe"6 available on their website. This is an introductory paper which addresses the assessment of penal mediation in Europe and furthermore, looks at the future of penal mediation in Europe. In the paper the author gives a short introduction on mediation and discusses the possibility and need of introducing European quality standards for penal mediation.
Other activities of the GT-MED include presence at European conferences on mediation. In this respect, a number of experts from the GT-MED participated in the conference in Vilnius on ‘Mediation in Europe: present challenges and future developments’ (24-25 May 2007).
In the report of the last meeting of the CEPEJ, the representative of the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) pointed out that mediation is a field in which the CDCJ might, over the next two years, envisage updating certain recommendations in the light of the guidelines adopted by the CEPEJ. 7
1CEPEJ-GT-MED, Analysis on assessment of the impact of Council of Europe recommendations concerning mediation, working document, Strasbourg, 2007, p.22.
2 European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, http://www.coe.int/t/dg1/legalcooperation/cepej/mediation/default_en.asp, Monday 17 September 2007.
3European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, http://www.coe.int/t/dg1/legalcooperation/cepej/mediation/default_en.asp, Monday 17 September 2007.
4CEPEJ-GT-MED, Analysis on assessment of the impact of Council of Europe recommendations concerning mediation, working document, Strasbourg, 2007, p.120-163.
5European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, Draft Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing Recommendation concerning Penal mediation, 9th Plenary Meeting, Strasbourg, 2007.
6J. LHUILLIER, The Quality of Penal Mediation in Europe, unpublished CEPEJ document, Strasbourg, 2007.
7European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, 9th plenary meeting – Strasbourg, 13-14 June 2007 – Meeting report, unpublished report, Strasbourg, 2007.
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