Singapore Mediation Landscape PDF

00:16 Good day, ladies and gentlemen. In this video clip, we will be discussing the mediation landscape in Singapore. We will be talking about some of the major players, some of the mediation institutions in Singapore, starting with mediation institutions, which provide general mediation services....

00:16 Good day, ladies and gentlemen. In this video clip, we will be discussing the mediation landscape in Singapore. We will be talking about some of the major players, some of the mediation institutions in Singapore, starting with mediation institutions, which provide general mediation services. Thereafter, we will be talking about the institutions and some of the more industry-specific mediation schemes. 00:45 And lastly, we\'ll talk about one or two of the other mediation players in Singapore. Let\'s start with the institutions that provide general mediation services. The Singapore Mediation Centre, or SMC, was established in 1997 to spearhead the commercial mediation scene in Singapore. The Singapore Mediation Centre is like a subsidiary of the Singapore Academy of Law, and it is closely linked to the courts. 01:15 By this I mean, for instance, that the location of the mediation chambers are in the Supreme Court itself, and the chairperson of the Singapore Mediation Centre is usually a sitting Supreme Court judge. In terms of the cases which the Singapore Mediation Centre handles, there is no actual jurisdictional limit. It can handle any sort of civil matter of any amount, any type, from anywhere. 01:45 The Singapore Mediation Centre has a panel of trained and assessed mediators. There are currently four panels of mediators, and I will just talk about one particular panel. That is the panel of senior mediators. The senior mediators in this panel is made up of senior judges of the Supreme Court and also retired judges and judicial commissioners of the Supreme Court. 02:14 SIMC, or the Singapore International Mediation Centre, is a not-for-profit organisation which was set up in 2014. It was set up pursuant to the recommendations of a committee under the Ministry of Law. The ambition was to make Singapore a hub, a hub for international commercial mediation. So as you can see, the focus of the SIMC is on international or cross-border 02:44 will focus on domestic disputes. The SIMC has a panel of mediators who are familiar or used to dealing with cross-border disputes. One of the things, one of the schemes which is interesting under the SIMC is the Up, Met, Up protocol, where if a matter is mediated and settled, that settlement can be converted into an arbitral award. And therefore, 03:14 With that arbitral award, it can be enforced in all the countries which are signatories to the New York Convention. The Community Mediation Centres, or CMC, first provided mediation services in 1998. The Ministry of Law has oversight over CMC. Resolving disputes through mediation was a way to promote social harmony. Now, the CMC is not meant for legal, 03:43 or commercial disputes. The CMC handles, in general, social or community disputes. Disputes between neighbors, disputes between family members, friends, and even co-workers. Some typical examples of disputes handled by the CMC would be, for instance, where one neighbor complains about the other neighbor making too much noise. Or in one of the more infamous cases, one of the neighbors complained. 04:11 about the smells emanating from the cooking of another neighbour. The last institution which manages general mediation cases would be the Law Society Mediation Scheme. This scheme is managed by the Law Society of Singapore, and it complements their Law Society Arbitration Scheme. Now we will talk about the industry-specific schemes. In other words, 04:41 mediation schemes which deal with particular types of disputes. We will start by talking about the schemes under the Singapore Mediation Centre. Let\'s start with the Council for Estate Agencies Mediation Sub-scheme. This scheme, under the SMC, was launched in collaboration with the Council of Estate Agencies. It handles disputes between clients and estate agencies or their agents. 05:09 Another scheme under the Singapore Mediation Centre is the Fair Tenancy Industry Committee scheme and this scheme handles disputes related to retail tenancy agreements. So note, it\'s only retail tenancy agreements. In terms of healthcare, there are two schemes under the Singapore Mediation Centre. The first scheme is the General Healthcare Mediation Scheme. 05:36 and it manages disputes between healthcare institutions and patients. It will deal with disputes such as patient care and quality of service. The other healthcare scheme is the SMC Singapore Medical Council Mediation Scheme. The Singapore Medical Council regulates the professional conduct of registered medical practitioners. One must first lodge a complaint with the Singapore Medical Council before one can 06:05 utilised this scheme. This scheme covers disputes between patients and registered medical practitioners. Some of the disputes which are under the scheme would include those which deal with serious misconduct, for instance, misdiagnosis, mistreatment or even negligence. One of the other schemes under the Singapore Mediation Centre would be the Committee for Private Education Med-Up Scheme. 06:35 This scheme is offered together with the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and also the Committee for Private Education. Under the scheme, the disputes would be those between private education institutions and students. Typically, these disputes would be over things like enrolment, fees and the quality of courses or teachers. The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore also has a scheme in collaboration with the Singapore Mediation Centre. 07:05 The IP disputes under this scheme would include those covering copyright matters, patents, passing off etc. Now, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore will also provide a subsidy for the fees if the disputes in question involve foreign IP rights. Let us now discuss mediation schemes provided by institutions outside the Singapore Mediation Centre. Let\'s start with Fidrex. 07:36 The Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre Limited handles disputes between financial institutions and consumers. Now, some of the financial institutions are banks, insurers and licensed financial advisors. The disputes handled by FIDRAC include disputes covering insurance policies, bank accounts or investment products. 08:04 CASE, or the Consumer Association of Singapore, also provides mediation services. CASE was set up to protect the interests of consumers. It would handle business consumer disputes. This would include grievances by a person who has purchased goods or services from businesses. The STRATA Titles Board also provides mediation services. These are mediation services. 08:32 for disputes involving strata title property, for instance between subsidiary proprietor and subsidiary proprietor, or subsidiary proprietor and management corporation. Let me give you some typical examples of these disputes. It could be a dispute about water leaking from the apartment upstairs, or in the case of a subsidiary proprietor management corporation dispute, it could be about whether a subsidiary proprietor 09:01 can make alterations to the facade of his apartment. Now, we will talk about some of the other institutions in the Singapore mediation landscape, but not mediation service providers. Let\'s start with the Singapore International Mediation Institute, or CME for short. CME is a non-profit organization supported by the Ministry of Law and the National University of Singapore. CME was set up as an independent professional standards body for mediation. 09:32 How does CME work? Well, CME recognizes the training programs and assessments of certain organizations. CME has a credentialing scheme for mediators. There are four levels involved, three levels of accredited mediators, and the last level is the highest level, i.e., certified mediators. Note that mediations conducted by CME certified mediators enjoy the privileges under the Mediation Act. 10:03 And last but not least, let\'s talk about SIDRA, or the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy. SIDRA is a research centre at the Singapore Management University School of Law. SIDRA is a platform for thought leadership in dispute resolution theory, practice, and also policy. It is dedicated to training and education of negotiation and dispute resolution through publication. 10:32 through events and also through projects. And with that, we\'ll end this lecture on the mediation landscape in Singapore. Thank you for your attention.