Samenvatting

In September 2008 a new clause on expedited proceedings was added to the arbitration rules of the German Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (German Institution of Arbitration). The inclusion of the new clause is a response to the (general) criticism regarding the length of some arbitral proceedings in recent years.In Finland mediation is inter alia offered by members of the bar associaton. This practice of mediation is briefly discussed together with some highlights of the Finnish court-annexed mediation programme, which is based on the Act on court-annexed mediation of 1 January 2006.In Russia the working group of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry drafted the Law on Mediation (referred to as Draft Law). The Draft Law is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International and Commercial Conciliation of 2002 and was submitted to the state Parliament on 12 December 2006. As yet, there is no statutory mediation in place.