International Online Mediation Conference

On November 15, the director of the Mediation Center headed by Mr. Lefter Dumitru and the mediator Oceretnii Sergiu attended the International Online Mediation Conference, within the e-Mediation Project, The Future of Online Dispute Resolution. The conference took place in Sofia, Bulgaria and was organized with the financial support of the Justice Programme (2014-2020) of the European Union.

E-mediation also known as electronic mediation is a type of mediation procedure, which is performed by utilizing ICT tool. E-mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that is conducted online. Thus, the e-mediation procedure possesses all features and respects the requirements applicable to traditional mediation.

At the conference, Mr. Lefter Dumitru made a speech in the context of the continuous promotion and development of the mediation institution, sharing the participants with good practices in the Republic of Moldova.

Over the recent years electronic mediation has become more and more prominent for two main reasons. On one hand, the global economy, the expansion of online businesses, the digitalization of business processes lead to an increase of the number of cross-border disputes. The distance between parties in such cases hinders the effective protection of their interests, when traditional means to resolute these disputes are the only instruments at their disposal.

The advent of online dispute resolution means comes to respond to these impediments by proving citizens with easy to use, fast and cost-effective solution. On the other hand, the online alternative dispute resolution is a natural consequence of the broad usage of online communications and the emerging necessity of people to manage their processes remotely.

There is a diversity of e-mediation platforms. By using these platforms parties establish contact with mediators through video conferences, online private individual sessions with mediator, off and online chat conversations. These platforms benefit from the quick and convenient electronic messages. At the same time, the overall correspondence is conducted with respect of confidentiality and information security.

The representatives of the mediation institutions in Greece, Austria, Serbia and Bulgaria shared their activities and their results, there were group discussions on on-line dispute resolution- legal, social, business and ethical challenges, political recommendations and it was demonstrated the e-MEDIATION platform.