Conference report on the New EU Directive on Mediation
- European Union
- 11/03/2008
Like all three previous meetings of the Association of International Arbitration, the Fourth Annual Conference on the New EU Directive on Mediation was deemed as highly successful. As a yearly tradition, speakers and visitors from all over the world traveled to Belgium on the 17th October 2008 to attend this one-day event at the facilities of the Catholic University of Brussels. The large attendances for the Conference would not have been made possible without the assistance and contributions of many. First of all, AIA would like to thank all speakers who preserved the necessary spare time in their busy schedule to indulge our audience by providing them with a powerful presentation on the present topic of Mediation. Moreover, a great deal of gratitude is owed to those that contributed to the organization of the Conference, in particular those who ensured the facilities at the Catholic University of Brussels. Most of all, however, AIA wishes to grant a special thanks to all the international visitors and numerous students who attended the afternoon Conference and who enthusiastically took part in the live discussions with all our speakers.
This year’s Conference was dedicated to the introduction and promotion of the new EU Directive on Mediation of 21 May 2008, which embodies a new step forward into the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms in the European Union. After a warm welcoming word of AIA’s president Johan BILLIET, several speakers representing the institutions of the European Union, gave a broad overview of both the historic background of the European legislator’s work in regulating cross-border civil procedure law, including ADR, and the content of the newest Directive on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters.
