In September 2008 a new clause on expedited proceedings was added to the arbitration rules of the German Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (German Institution of Arbitration). The inclusion of the new clause is a response to the (general) criticism regarding the length of some arbitral proceedings in recent years.In Finland mediation is inter alia offered by members of the bar associaton. This practice of mediation is briefly discussed together with some highlights of the Finnish court-annexed mediation programme, which is based on the Act on court-annexed mediation of 1 January 2006.In Russia the working group of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry drafted the Law on Mediation (referred to as Draft Law). The Draft Law is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International and Commercial Conciliation of 2002 and was submitted to the state Parliament on 12 December 2006. As yet, there is no statutory mediation in place.

Poelmann-Teijgeler adviseert contractspartijen de verwachtingen met betrekking tot een exploitatierecht in een licentieovereenkomst voorvoorafgaand aan het sluiten van de overeenkomst over en weer uit te spreken en de afspraken die daaruit resulteren in de licentieovereenkomst vast te leggen, ten einde het niet op interpretatiekwesties te laten aankomen. Als dat niet is gebeurd hangt het van de concrete omstandigheden van het geval af of het verkregen exploitatierecht ook een exploitatieplicht inhoudt.

In the Netherlands the interest in collaborative divorce, collaborative mediation is growing. On 17 October 2008 the Vereniging Collaborative Divorce Holland (Association of Collaborative Divorce Holland) was established. One of its activities is the organization of training in collaborative divorce, mediation. The main findings of the first training program which took place on 19, 20 and 21 January 2009 are discussed in this report.

Special education for mentally and physically handicapped children is a potential source of conflict between parents and school teachers/school team. Recommendations are given to better manage this type of conflicts, inter alia through mediation.

The British Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform actively promotes the early settlement of individual labour disputes, preferably within the company or organization. This has resulted in the so-called mandatory statutory ’3-step procedure’. This conflict management procedure is laid down in the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004. From 6 April 2009 this procedure will no longer be mandatory. However, the procedure as such will remain and further tools and assistance for the early settlement of individual labour disputes will be developed by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.