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The Chief justice, the Hon. Justice Benjamin Odoki officially\r\nlaunched the new rules of Mediation on the 14th June 2013 at Imperial Royale Hotel Kampala.
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The objective of introducing these Rules was to assist in the\r\nefficient and effective dispute resolution and disposal of cases at the\r\ncommercial Court. These Rules will be applicable to the High Court and Courts\r\nsubordinate to it.
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There are about 12 salient features of the new\r\nrules and these include the following;-
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1. The new rules shall\r\napply to the High Court and Courts Subordinate – this means that all the\r\nmagistrates’ courts will be able to apply these rules. The old rules were\r\napplicable only to the Commercial court Division
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2. The rules shall apply\r\nto all Civil actions filed in the High Court and lower courts except civil\r\nsuits commenced under the small claims procedure
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3. The rules make\r\nmediation Mandatory in the High Court and Courts subordinate. This means that\r\nno civil action will be heard by court unless the parties have first attempted\r\nmediation
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4. The rules require\r\njudicial officers in the High Court and lower courts to refer all civil suits\r\nto mediation before hearing can commence except suits under small claims\r\nprocedure.
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5. The rules do not allow\r\nfor appeals against orders made in mediation
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6. The window time to\r\nconclude mediation has been expanded to 60 days from 30 days – this eliminates\r\nthe requirement of parties to apply for extension of time which had proved to\r\nbe a time wasting procedure
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7. The rules now allow\r\nparties to choose their own mediator if they so wish other than a Judge,\r\nMagistrate or a Court Accredited mediator appointed by court. In the old Rules\r\na mediator was provided by court
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8. The rules also allow\r\nchildren to participate in mediation in their own right in cases where the\r\ninterests of the child are in issue
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9. The rules make it\r\nmandatory that costs of participating in mediation shall be borne by the\r\nparties unless agreed by the parties otherwise – this means that unless there\r\nis a prior agreement to the contrary by the parties costs shall not be allowed\r\nin mediation
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10. The new rules also\r\nprovide the mediator with guidelines on how to conduct the mediation. The old\r\nRules did not provide for guidelines to be followed by a mediator.
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11. The rules also create a\r\nnew monitoring and Evaluation Committee which shall be chaired by the Principal\r\nJudge and the members includes all heads of the High Court Divisions, Solicitor\r\nGeneral or his representative, Chief Registrar or his representative, the\r\npresident of Uganda Law society, Executive Director of CADER, Registrar\r\nresponsible for mediation, a representative of Court Accredited Mediators, and\r\nfour Chief Magistrates nominated by the Chief Registrar. The old rules created\r\na monitoring committee separate from the Evaluation committee – administration\r\nis now more streamlined.
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12. The new rules also\r\nallows a mediator to penalize a party who does not attend mediation without a\r\ngood cause to pay the party that attends five currency points(Shs 100,000) and\r\nthis order is enforced by court. In the old rules the penalty was paid to court\r\n– it should be noted that unless the party penalized pays this fine the trial\r\nJudge will not hear the suit.
Posted 17th, June 2013
