Study visit to Norway (5-12 May 2023)

Under the project "Reinforcing the system of court-annexed mediation", co-financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, a Croatian delegation paid a study visit to the Kingdom of Norway from 5 to 12 May 2023. 

The purpose of the visit was to gain insight into court cases and case law and to attend advanced mediation training. 

Mediation in courts in the Kingdom of Norway is not new and has been carried out successfully for fifteen years under the valid Dispute Act of 1 January 2008. Under this Act, there are more options available to judges to resolve a dispute. After receiving the file, the judge may refer the parties to (1) direct negotiations, (2) judicial conciliation, (3) mediation in court or out of court, or (4) consider adjudication i.e. conducting binding or non-binding arbitration, or (5) proceed with regular court proceedings under the provisions on civil procedure.

The participants of the study visit visited the Oslo District Court (court of first instance), where they found it interesting that the screen on which current hearings are announced it was visible that the largest number of cases dating from 2023. Some cases were from 2022, however there were no cases older than 2020. It is to be assumed that  this is due to the above mentioned possibilities of the judge in choosing the type of proceedings. 
 
Judges in Norway regularly participate in mediation trainings. As the basis of mediation in both Norway and Croatia is the so-called Harvard negotiation model, where the method of negotiation takes into account the true interests of both sides, instead of boiling down to a meaningless discussion about what each of the participants is willing or absolutely not willing to do, mediation training in Norway has a similar structure as in Croatia.

Participants from Croatia attended a two-day (sixteen-hour) advanced mediation training, with the latest elements of theory and practice that proved to be extremely useful for all the participants.