Mediation

In recent decades, mediation has established itself worldwide - starting in the USA - as a recognized and successful method of out-of-court conflict resolution. Essentially, it is a non-formal process in which a neutral third party, the mediator, assists two or more parties with the aim of settling their dispute through negotiation of their own free will. The mediator does not prescribe a solution, he/she is not an arbitrator and certainly not a judge. Rather, his/her role is essentially to assist the parties in identifying their position in the dispute, developing common and different interests, and exploring and evaluating alternative solutions.

Simplified, the negotiation method can be characterized by the principle of "cooperation instead of confrontation." Instead of thinking in terms of positions, negotiation takes place according to the interests of the parties behind these positions and the creative search for new, most suitable, joint solutions. The aim is a negotiation from which both parties emerge as winners in the end; this means a departure from the usual win-lose thinking, in which the success of one party corresponds to the failure of the other.

After the Austrian legislature had created a comprehensive set of regulations for mediation in civil law cases with the creation of a federal law on mediation in civil law cases (Zivilrechts-Mediations-Gesetz - ZivMediatG), Federal Law Gazette No. 29/2003 of June 6, 2003, the Liechtenstein legislature followed suit with the law of December 15, 2004 on mediation in civil law cases (Zivilrechts-Mediations-Gesetz; ZMG), LGBl. 2005 No. 31, LR 275.1. The ZMG, which entered into force on May 1, 2005, is based on the Austrian ZivMediatG, but also takes into account the special Liechtenstein circumstances.

With the revision of the ZMG on June 1, 2022, the responsibilities for enforcing the ZMG were shifted from the government to the Office of Justice.