International Conference on Online Mediation

“Mediation as a means of out-of-court dispute resolution offers more – even the most disadvantageous settlement is better than the most advantageous court decision.” This was said by Blagovest Punev, Chairman of the Arbitration Court at BCCI at the opening of the international conference on online mediation, which took place in Sofia.

The Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria, Maya Manolova, in her address to the participants said “My place here is natural in the role of mediator of the society.” The Ombudsman has already proposed the introduction of mandatory mediation for some types of disputes, mainly family disputes, disputes between neighbours, and ones with low financial interest, as well as abolition of the court fees for disputes resolved through mediation.

The reports of Christoph Riedmann – Policy Advisor at the Association of the European Chambers of Commerce and Industry (EUROCHAMBRES), and Petros Zourdoumis, Director General of ADR point - Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution and founder of ODR Europe enjoyed great interest.

BCCI and the Law and Internet Foundation, implementing the project “e-MEDIATION” under the Justice Programme of the EU, presented at the conference an online platform for resolution of commercial disputes, including cross-border disputes. The platform is bilingual - available in Bulgarian and English. Mediation within the platform will be led by mediators to the Mediation Center of the Arbitration Court at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. This is a natural development of the online services provided by BCCI, including the issuance of Certificates of Origin, services from the Voluntary Unified Trade Register of BCCI, and the digitalized Arbitration Court.  

e-MEDIATION Project was funded by the European Union`s Justice Programme (2014-2020). The content of this publication does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information expressed therein lies entirely with the authors.