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Business welcomes new mediation rules

Johannesburg - New mediation rules take business and individuals a step closer towards access to swift and efficient outcomes to disputes, the Cape Chamber of Commerce said on Thursday.

"The rules published give us a lot more clarity on how the department of justice views mediation acting as a complementary and important ancillary process to litigation," CCC chief operating officer Bronwen Kausch said.

"In short, [they] clearly show us that the department is finally recognising that mediation has an important part to play in speeding up access to justice for all," she said.

The justice department's rules board has issued the new mediation rules for comment. They outline how it intends to deal with alternate dispute resolution as a complementary process to litigation.

The chamber opened an African Commercial Dispute Settlement Centre last year in preparation for the introduction of the new rules, at the request of its 3 000 member companies, many of whom were frustrated by the costs and time associated with litigation.

"We are pleased that the department has clearly encapsulated many of the benefits of mediation," Kausch said.

"Allowing parties to find equitable solutions to disputes will result in significant cost and time savings. However, there is much more to gain from mediation that just this.

"Global and local experience has shown that opting for the less adversarial route of mediation preserves the relationship between parties - many of whom will still need to do business with one another after the dispute is settled."

The rules allow any party to refer a dispute to mediation before or after issuing a summons.


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