Evolving Paths to Justice: Assessing the EU Directive on Mediation

Abstract

For more than thirty years, Europe has been engaged in reform efforts to achieve better methods of securing access to justice. As part of this process, the European Union issued a mediation directive in 2008 that required member states to implement structures for the mediation of cross-border commercial disputes by May 2011. While it did not introduce any radical changes in EU dispute resolution processing, the Directive signaled a strong preference for the problem-solving approach of mediation. It provided a common set of rules to govern mediation practice in the EU, thereby enhancing the legitimacy and credibility of mediation as a dispute resolution process. In adopting the Directive, the EU offered a strong institutional framework to guide mediation practice, a significant support in view of the challenges in dealing with different national laws, languages and cultures. This paper examines the current status of the Directive and assesses the developing legal culture that it is creating.