Mediation Centre

• Mediation is pursuant to the provisions of the \'Code of Conduct for the Mediation Centre and the Mediation Proceedings at the Croatian Insurance Bureau\'.
• Mediation is initiated by submitting a \'Mediation request\' to the Mediation Centre which is forwarded to the opposing party who is given 15 days from the date of despatch to reply to it by sending the \'Reply of the opposing party to the mediation request\'.
• The parties are free to agree upon the rules of the mediation process, in which case parties are recommended to use the standard Mediation Agreement.
• All issues that have not been explicitly solved by the Agreement between the parties shall be resolved by the upper mentioned Code of Conduct for the Mediation Centre and Mediation Procedures at the Croatian Insurance Bureau and if not by this Code of Conduct then by the Mediation Act.
• Mediation proceedings referring to domestic consumer disputes are held in Croatian, while in case of cross-border disputes it is possible to hold the mediation proceeding in English.
• The mediation proposal may be submitted in Croatian and in English.

How to initiate a mediation procedure?

 

• The Mediation request is submitted to the Mediation Centre in written (in order to speed up the procedure, requests may be submitted by e-mail or fax).
• The Mediation Centre forwards the request to the opposing party who is given 15 days from the date of despatch to reply to it.
• Mediation can take place only if both parties agree.
• Mediation proceedings usually end in one session. When necessary, it is possible to arrange several mediation sessions during the mediation proceedings depending on the parties’ mutual agreement.
  
   

Who are the mediators?
 

• Mediation sessions are conducted by mediators who have been nominated on the mediator list of the Mediation Centre at the Croatian Insurance Bureau and are experts who have been adequately educated or who are affirmed judicial experts through their scientific or professional work or their public activities.
• The Management Board determines the initial list of mediators which can later on be supplemented by the Managing Director of the Croatian Insurance Bureau.
• Mostly on this list are judges with long years of experience in the resolution of dispute arising out of insurance and indemnification relationships.

Which are the basic principles of the mediation procedure?

 

• Principle of dispositivity – mediation is voluntary in any phase of the procedure
  The initiation of and the participation in the mediation proceeding is voluntary. Both parties to the dispute must agree to the mediation proceeding. Moreover, during the mediation proceeding each party may address, by a written declaration to the other party and to the mediator a declaration to the effect that the mediation proceedings are terminated
• Principle of oral procedure – enables a time reduced procedure
• Principle of urgency, efficiency – mediation is carried out without any delays and with reduced costs
• Principle of flexibility and informality – mediation is an alternative dispute resolution procedure by which the strictness of formal court proceedings is avoided
• Principle of confidentiality - parties are asked to keep confidential all information relating to the mediation procedure

Basic objective of the mediation procedure

 

• The primary goal of the mediation procedure is the resolution of disputes by reaching a resolution agreement, avoiding lingering and expensive court proceedings.
• A settlement agreement signed in the mediation proceeding shall be an enforcement title if it contains an obligation to perform an act over which the parties may reach a settlement and if it contains the obligor’s statement on immediate authorisation of enforcement (an enforcement clause).
• The resolution agreement signed in the mediation procedure is an execution title and entails the distraint clause.

According to the Code of Conduct for the Centre insureds and damaged parties are particularly privileged regarding expenses since all costs are borne by the Croatian Insurance Bureau; further to this filing fees are free of charge.
 

On 4th February 2014 the Mediation Centre at the Croatian Insurance Bureau has become a member of FIN-NET (Financial Dispute Resolution Network), a network of national ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) organisations in member states of the EEA (member states of the EU, as well as Island, Liechtenstein and Norway) responsible for settling disputes between consumers and providers in the area of financial services. In 2001 FIN-NET was set up by the European Commission to provide consumers with easy access to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures in cross-border disputes.

For example, in case of a dispute between a consumer from Croatia and a financial service provider resident in an EEA country the consumer’s complaint shall be first addressed directly to the respective foreign financial service provider. If the consumer’s complaint fails to be resolved directly with the foreign financial service provider, the same may be addressed either directly to the ADR scheme in the country where the financial service provider is established or to the ADR scheme in Croatia, which is a member of FIN-NET – in this case to the Mediation Centre at the Croatian Insurance Bureau.