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Financial Services Ombudsman

Mediation

Mediation

Competence

FINSOM (the Ombudsman Office or Mediation Body) is competent to deal with mediation requests concerning companies affiliated to Commercial Mediation/FinSA or Workplace Mediation

Access conditions

 
The mediation request must be submitted in accordance with FINSOM’s instructions.

To be admitted, mediation cannot appear from the outset to have no chance of success and the mediation request must meet the following conditions:

  • If no conciliation authority, court, court of arbitration or administrative authority is or has been seized of the case, and if mediation has not already been conducted in the same case, the request can be unilateral or joint. 
  • If a conciliation authority, a court, a court of arbitration or an administrative authority is or has been seized of the case, or if mediation has already been conducted in the same case, the request must be joint. Ongoing civil or criminal proceedings must be suspended or replaced by mediation.

If the Commercial Mediation request is unilateral, the requesting party must credibly prove that they have previously informed the other party of their point of view and attempted to reach an agreement with them.

Requests that do not meet the above conditions or that are obviously vexatious are refused.

Preliminary review

 
On receipt of a mediation request, FINSOM carries out a preliminary review to verify that the above access conditions are met. If the request is refused, if possible, FINSOM will attempt to orient the requestor toward a more appropriate approach or procedure. If the request is admitted, FINSOM takes the appropriate measures to organise the mediation procedure.

Mediation procedure

The mediation procedure must be fair, quick, objective, impartial and unbureaucratic. It is confidential. The appointed mediator attempts to conciliate the parties and can perform an independent material and/or legal assessment of the case, but does not issue a decision or propose a judgment. The outcome of the procedure depends on the willingness of the parties. FINSOM’s rules of procedure apply. 

Procedural fees

 
The procedural costs are borne by the affiliated company, provided that no conciliation authority, court, court of arbitration or administrative authority is or has been seized of the case, and that mediation hasn’t already been attempted in the case. Otherwise, the procedural costs are financed in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC).