In the mediation process, it is very important for mediators to be competent and dedicated, said Raluca Mihalcea, the personal advisor of Maria Grapini, the delegated minister for SMEs, Tourism and the Business Sector.

Raluca Mihalcea said that the publicizing of the mediation process is extremely important: "Mrs. Grapini supports fairness, honesty and the making the Romanian business environment attractive. Maria Grapini praises the coming into effect of the dispositions of the code of Civil Procedure concerning the solving of litigations by conciliation or mediation".

The new Civil Procedure Code, which came into effect on February 15th, 2013, stipulates, among other things, that before going to court, the litigants are required to prove that they have participated in a meeting of information about mediation. The mediation procedure is used as an alternative method to lawsuits, in order to relieve the workload of judges, (during mediation, the lawsuit is suspended).

The introduction of the sanction of the inadmissibility of the case in court, if the litigants did not honor their obligation to attend the information session about litigation prior to going to court, has been postponed until August 1st, 2013.

In December last year, an Emergency Ordinance has been approved which stipulated that the sanction was to come into effect starting with February 1st, 2013.

E.O. (Translated by Cosmin Ghidoveanu)

link: "Be careful when it comes to contracts and legislation!"

link: "The penetration of mediation in the banking sector is difficult"

link: "I see a great potential for mediation in the medium and short term"

link: "The legal disposition is imperative, but without any sanctions"

link: "I don't think that attending the information session about mediation should have been made manda