Family mediation: advantages, drawbacks, costs and prospects

Abstract

Directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters provides an example of how to use EU policy to attempt to improve, standardise and harmonise the Member States' justice systems. The Member States have untilMay 2011 to transpose the directive. This paper intends to examine current Spanish legislation on family mediation —analysing its development and its strengths and weaknesses and focusing on its adaptation to Directive 2008/52/EC on mediation— to raise issues and make future suggestions with a view to introducing family mediation more widely and extending it to encompass civilmediation, within the framework of the EU.

Keywords

• Directiva 2008/52/CE sobre mediación, Políticas comunitarias, Legislación española en materia de mediación familiar.