Approval point

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A conciliation office is an office for the out-of-court settlement of legal disputes .

Germany

In Germany, approval bodies are set up or recognized by the state administration of justice (e.g. arbitration office ). The approval office can be called at any time. This means before a legal dispute is heard in court, but also when it is already pending in court. Originally, approval offices were intended for petty disputes. Since the costs are generally independent of the amount in dispute, the quality procedure is particularly suitable for large or very large amounts in dispute. For cartel damages in particular, quality offices seem to be establishing themselves as an alternative to legal proceedings. The initial consultation costs and the costs for initiating the procedure are extremely low. The quality regulation, which each quality control office must have drawn up individually, provides information about the procedure, the methodology used and the costs, among other things.

Most of the state-recognized approval bodies are staffed by people who are qualified to hold judicial office , but there are also experts who are state-recognized as approval bodies. As non-lawyers, these can offer advantages, especially in complex or technical disputes. The conciliatory procedure is suitable for all civil law disputes where it is not about clarifying the question of guilt. The fastest possible solution that everyone involved can live with is usually the focus. Many certification bodies have no geographical limitation of responsibility and operate in Europe or even worldwide.

Voluntary goodwill procedure

A voluntary conciliation procedure before a state-recognized conciliation office offers the parties in civil law disputes the opportunity to resolve their conflict quickly and inexpensively out of court.

The conciliation procedure is initiated at the request of at least one party. Even the submission of the request for approval to the approval office inhibits the statute of limitations (Section 204 (1) No. 4 BGB) and creates the opportunity to work out a confidential, swift and inexpensive out-of-court settlement with the opposing party in the context of settlement negotiations through the mediation of a neutral third party. If the opponent refuses to conduct a conciliation procedure, the suspension of the statute of limitations does not end until 6 months after the end of the procedure, Section 204 (2) sentence 1 BGB. The applicant thus gains sufficient time to prepare the judicial assertion of his claims. If, on the other hand, there is a quality negotiation, those involved benefit from the high success rates of professionally designed ( mediation ) negotiations. The approval office takes on the organization and implementation of the procedure. The content of a possible agreement is the sole responsibility of the parties and their legal representatives. Since the parties usually split the costs of the procedure in half and the conciliation procedure aims at a speedy settlement, the conciliation procedure causes only a fraction of the costs of a legal proceeding. If the parties agree on a settlement , this will be documented by the conciliation office in a written contract, from which, as from a court judgment, enforcement can be initiated, Section 794 (1) No. 1 ZPO.

The voluntary conciliation procedure thus offers a quick and inexpensive way to avoid the statute of limitations for civil law claims and to first clarify the out-of-court settlement options before a cost-intensive and risky judicial dispute.

Mandatory quality procedure

Through the civil process reform (2002) the federal states were authorized according to § 15a II No. 5 EGZPO to prescribe an out-of-court conciliatory procedure (obligatory conciliation procedure) before filing an action. In Bavaria , Brandenburg , Hesse , Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein, for example, such proceedings must first be carried out by the plaintiff for amounts in dispute of up to € 600/750. In North Rhine-Westphalia such a dispute-related regulation contained in the local Quality and Arbitration Act (GüSchlG NRW) was abolished on January 1, 2008. In Lower Saxony , the obligatory dispute settlement only takes place in the case of neighborhood disputes, claims due to violation of personal honor and claims under Section 3 of the General Equal Treatment Act (Section 1 (2) Lower Saxony Arbitration Act - NSchlG). In North Rhine-Westphalia there is a comparable regulation in Section 53 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Justice Act . In Bavaria, the mandatory settlement of disputes in property law matters was repealed by an amendment to Art. 1 BaySchlG effective April 30, 2013. In Baden-Württemberg , the compulsory dispute settlement was abolished through the repeal of the Arbitration Act on May 1, 2013. In Saxony-Anhalt, pre-judicial arbitration has only been available since December 2008 in disputes relating to neighboring law and in defense suits that are not related to press law. If a prescribed out-of-court settlement of disputes is not carried out, a lawsuit will be rejected as inadmissible. According to a more recent decision by the BGH , the proceedings can not be rescheduled even after an action has been brought. Complaints under the General Equal Treatment Act can now also only be filed after an unsuccessful appointment. If the parties cannot come to an agreement in an arbitration negotiation, the conciliation office issues a so-called unsuccessful certificate. Otherwise, the parties conclude a settlement , which is enforceable for the parties after logging by the quality authorities.

Austria

Without pending proceedings, but with the participation of the court, a pretorical settlement can be concluded in Austria before a district court ( Section 433 ZPO ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. On the refusal to recognize a law firm as a quality authority in Berlin, see BGH , decision of May 29, 2013, IV AR (VZ) 3/12.
  2. Law on the recognition of quality offices within the meaning of Section 794, Paragraph 1, No. 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure and the mandatory out-of-court dispute resolution in North Rhine-Westphalia (Quality and Conciliation Act - GüSchlG NRW)