The benefits of mediation are becoming more and more visible to Bulgarian society

The first event under e-MEDIATION project was held in Sofia, within the Mediation Days in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a project partner.

Desislava Ahladova, Deputy Minister of Justice, welcomed the participants and confirmed that the government supports mediation as a method of finding the common interests and mutual benefits of the disputants. She stressed that a working group is currently being set up to develop a strategy for the application of mediation in Bulgaria.

The Chairwoman of Sofia City Court Desislava Popkoleva highly praised the contribution of the Agreement and Mediation Center established 8 years ago.

In his welcoming speech, the President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov stressed that the joint efforts would bring positive results in view of the implementation of out-of-court means for dispute resolution. BCCI has experience in reconciliation, commercial arbitration and mediation. Combining them with digital technologies will encourage businesses to use more alternative methods to reach mutually beneficial solutions. The Arbitration Court at BCCI has been digitalized for 7 years. With the establishment of an e-Mediation platform under the e-MEDIATION project, the work of the Mediation Center at BCCI will also be digitalized.

The Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria sent a congratulatory address to the participants in the event.

Disputes referred to mediation will reach around 200 by the end of 2017. Only 3% of the cases are of a commercial nature. This was said by Simona Takova, Chairwoman of the Agreement and Mediation Center at Sofia City Court and Sofia District Court.

The project “e-MEDIATION - promoting ICT tools to cross-border disputes resolution” was presented by Raya Tsvetkova from Law and Internet Foundation, leading partner in its execution. The project aims to contribute to the correct implementation and application of Directive 2008/52/EC; to provide a feasible and secure IT tool for online mediation in cross-border disputes, while promoting mediation culture throughout the Bulgarian society.