The Russian government has approved a bill prepared by the Supreme Court which is supposed to improve mediation procedures, the official statement of the government reads.
According to the bill, mediation procedures will be extended to administrative and other public violations and introduce a new position of a “court mediator”. The government while approving of the bill, noted that these proposals have flaws.
In particular, mediation should not be applied to disputes involving public interests because those are based on coercion of one party by another. It is also noted that judicial system already has a position of mediator that fulfils the same functions both before court proceedings and after.
The bill reads that the court mediator is a paid office and the government noted that any proposals to introduce such positions should be accompanied by provisions specifying the source of income for these expenses.
Similarly, the government criticised ideas regarding the assignment of court staff as mediators because the Law on court system states that court staff maintains functionality of a court but can’t be involved in dispute resolution. Also, the proposal granting judges’ right to request information on mediation procedure contradicts current legislation because mediation procedure may be put on hold.
Source: rapsinews.com
