May 3-7, 2012

ValentiLaw.com

 Just Appease Me (Blog)

 Chicago Mediator Daily (Newsfeed)

 Valenti Law Daily (Newsfeed)

 International arbitration is all over the map when it comes to resolving minor commercial disputes. Now, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is about to bring direction to the issue with the release of its recommended rules later this year.

"Essentially, they are looking at online dispute resolution [ODR]," said Timothy Lemay, principal legal officer with the UNCITRAL Secretariat in Vienna. "The concern is there are many, many millions of cross-border but small transactions. There is no very good place for those disputes to be resolved."

"ODR is already very valuable. The question is, can we build an ODR system for the whole Internet?" said Colin Rule, chief executive officer of Modria.com, an online dispute resolution company, in San Jose, Calif.

According to a UN report on the issue, countries around the globe are looking for a consistent approach to dealing with smaller commercial disagreements - and they believe a new model is needed.

"Many delegations voiced the view that traditional dispute resolution mechanisms, including litigation through the courts, were inappropriate for addressing these types of disputes, being too costly and time-consuming in relation to the value of the transaction," the report stated.

"It's undeniable that government resource shortages are making it difficult for many governments to maintain or improve small-claims dispute options, so long as they continue to rely on traditional court litigation," said Darin Thompson, legal counsel with the B.C. Ministry of the Attorney General in Victoria.

"But in terms of the UNCITRAL model for low-value, high-volume cross-border disputes, the rationale seems to be more about providing redress for consumers where none would otherwise be available," he added. 

That rationale appeals to both buyers and sellers. "On the consumer side, a robust ODR process could help to build trust in cross-border e-commerce that in turn encourages more purchasing and higher satisfaction levels," Thompson said. 

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The Italian Mediation Law (Legislative Decree 28/2010) is the result of a larger effort by European Union ("EU") members to comply with a directive to provide mediation for international disputes.  Italy went beyond the mandate of the Directive: the decree provides that an attempt to mediate before accredited providers is a condition precedent to bringing a suit in court in certain subject matters, such as property rights, trusts and estates, loans, disputes arising out of car and boat accidents, medical malpractice, insurance, banking and financial contracts, among others.  

The Association for International Arbitration is currently seeking the cooperation of EU Mediation Centres willing to be part of an ambitious project aiming at the creation of a formal network of EU Mediation Centresin all the 27 EU Member states, which will facilitate the sharing of information and good practices in order to promote the use of mediation and enhance the general public's awareness to seek mediation as a common practice in resolving both domestic and cross border disputes.

If you are the head or a person in charge of any mediation centre

established in one of the EU countries please feel free to contact us at

administration@arbitration-adr.org

At this time MBB has six approved projects: Climate Change, Colombia, Ecuador, Israel, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Rwanda and Nepal are also two active assessment stage projects. Please see this MBB website link for more information about MBB projects: http://www.mediatorsbeyondborders.org/what/index.shtml

MBB project teams are led by one or more Project Team Leaders. The role of the Team Leader is to oversee and supervise project related responsibilities such as project management, funding, decision-making, team management and communications, and travel plans. The volunteer hours are self-scheduled, and team meetings are usually held by phone due to the distance between team members.

MBB is fortunate to have many exceptional members who volunteer to lead MBB Project Teams. We would like to develop a longer list of MBB members who would be interested in leading MBB Project Teams both now and in the future.

• One project team currently has an opening for a co-leader;
• One or two other teams anticipate openings for co-leaders in 2012; and
• MBB would like to recruit and train future project leaders to work alongside current project leaders for continuity and succession planning.

MBB is developing training and materials to support this very important volunteer position.

Please consider helping MBB build a more peace "able" world by becoming a project team leader. If interested, please contact MBB Program Director Gillian Saxby.  

MBB's Vision: Building a more peace "able" world.

MBB's Mission: To build local skills for peace and promote mediation worldwide.

Participants at a meeting on electoral disputes on Tuesday debated whether the Supreme Court should be made an election court, and thus broaden the electoral dispute resolution processes in Ghana or vice versa.

The participants, who were of diverse views, included civil society actors, journalists, legal practitioners and officials from the judiciary.

They discussed the theme: "Strengthening the Judiciary to deal with Human Rights Abuses during Election 2012."

Mr Rowland Atta-Kesson, Associate Consultant at Law and Development Association, a legal firm, made the main presentation.

He said that the Supreme Court should be made an electoral court to enable people, who took such cases to court to get maximum satisfaction.

Mr Atta-Kesson explained that, the 1992 Constitution stated that, electoral cases should end at the Appeal Court but said such cases should go to the Supreme Court.

He said the system must ensure that voters' decision prevailed and that legal elections depended on legal correction of any mistake, therefore, judicial resolution had become fundamental.

Mr Atta-Kesson said the High Court must take care of all aspects of electoral disputes including those involving the creation of electoral constituencies.

Mr John Bosco Nabarese, First Deputy Judicial Secretary, announced that a review of an Election Manual was in the process and added that the Judicial Service would train judges and lawyers to enable them to facilitate adjudication of electoral disputes.

He mentioned the speed at which electoral disputes were settled, and said that if the cases kept too long in court the public might lose interest in the court system.

Mr Nabarese said, the issue of the Supreme Court being made an election court should be subjected to further debate to ensure that the right thing was done.

Other participants agreed that the duration of cases was important and some suggested that special rules for settling electoral processes in court be put in place to speed the process to ensure shorter duration of electoral dispute cases.

Ms Daphne Lariba Nabila, Executive Director of Legal Resource Centre, organisers of the meeting, explained that the centre was seeking views on election disputes, to enhance the process and ensure that people understood and involved in the legal process of settling electoral disputes.