Posted in Legislative Research on Jun 11, 2020

This bill was posted on the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw website on 01.06.2020 and described in the state-run newspaper Myanmar Alin and The Mirror on 30th of May, requesting input from the public.

Current Status (11.06.2020) – awaiting submission to Hluttaw for debate

(1) Backgrounder

On 4th of March 2019, the Union Supreme Court introduced a court-led mediation programme with the cooperation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Mediation is type of dispute resolution that takes places outside of formal court hearings. The pilot project aimed to focus on resolving matters relating to money, family and commerce. It was conducted on four courts – Dekkhina District Court (Naypyidaw), Takkone Township Court (Naypyidaw), and both the District and Township Courts in Taungoo (Bago). 498 cases were referred to the mediation pilot during the one-year pilot, 291 of which are related to money and 107 dealt with family matters.

The court-led mediation programme is quite different from a civil lawsuit because there are no strict and rigid court procedures and lengthy witness examinations. It is said that the programme can bring benefits of data confidentiality, direct and easy participation by the parties, shorter periods for finding resolution, higher satisfaction of the parties, reasonable costs and improved relation among the parties. (Although it could be argued many of these should be features of the formal court system.)

According to the Annual Court Report 2019 issued by the Union Supreme Court, the project will be extended to six township courts in 2020.

The current amendment bill may be linked with the abovementioned court-led mediation programme, as there is a new provision being proposed for adding into the Chapter “Arbitration” under the “Part V. Special Proceedings”. The Code of Civil Procedure was enacted in 1909 and amended in 1989, 2000, 2018 and 2014 respectively.

(2) Bill Summary

The bill includes provisions explaining mediation, which cases can be resolved by the court in this way, and how, and how to verify agreements reached during the process.

  • Mediation is “a dispute resolution process involving a mediator assigned by the court who facilitates the parties to reach a mutually agreeable solution”.
  • The court can use mediation in civil cases.
  • The allowed cases for the mediation include those prescribed by the law or determined by notification of the Union Supreme Court, including cases involuntarily submitted by the parties.
  • The mediation will be confidential and the correspondent and admission made during the mediation is not admissible in any subsequent hearing of the same suit or any other proceeding.
  • When the parties reach agreement and the court feel it is in keeping with the relevant provision of the Code, verification will be made by passing an order or decree.
  • The Union Supreme Court can issue rules, regulations, by-law, notifications, orders, directives, procedures and manuals.

Relevant Laws

The Union Judiciary Law (2010)

The Arbitration Law (2016)

Link

Bill

Contact

Moe Aung, The Ananda, moeaung@theananda.org