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Estonia
Estonia does not have a general website or database concerning mediators. Pursuant to the Conciliation Act, anyone meeting the requirements laid down in the Act may act as a conciliator. There is no State monitoring of the activities of conciliators.
Pursuant to the Conciliation Act, the following may be a conciliator:
- a natural person entrusted by the parties with carrying out the conciliation procedure and helping to resolve the dispute. The conciliator may act through a legal person with whom they are in an employment or other contractual relationship;
- an attorney-at-law – the list of members of the Estonian Bar Association is available on its website;
- a notary – a list of notary’s offices is available on the website of the Chamber of Notaries;
- in the case laid down in the Conciliation Act, a State or local government conciliation body.
Some copyright-related disputes (cf. the Copyright Act) are resolved by a committee of copyright experts in the role of conciliator. This committee has been set up under the Ministry of Justice.
Although the concept of ‘ombudsman’ is not used in the Chancellor of Justice Act, the Chancellor of Justice also performs the functions of an ombudsman, in monitoring whether government bodies comply with people’s fundamental rights and freedoms and with the principles of good governance and also monitoring local governments, legal persons in public law and private entities performing public functions. Since 2011 the Chancellor of Justice has also performed the functions of the ombudsman for children under Article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. You can find out more on the website of the Chancellor of Justice.
Resolving collective labour disputes is the function of the Public Conciliator, and more information is available on the website.
You can also contact the following non-government organisations:
- The Estonian Union for Child Welfare is a non-profit association that supports children’s rights. Its activities include giving advice to parents who wish to separate or divorce, encouraging them to use the services of conciliators in order to protect their children’s interests. The Union has organised training sessions on the subject of family mediation.
- The Estonian Insurance Association has set up an insurance conciliation body to deal with resolving insurance disputes out of court. Formally speaking, it is a conciliator and not a conciliation body within the meaning of the Conciliation Act.
- The Estonian Motor Insurance Bureau has set up a motor insurance conciliation body to deal with resolving motor insurance disputes out of court. Formally speaking, it is a conciliator and not a conciliation body within the meaning of the Conciliation Act.
- In Estonia, family mediators are currently represented by the Estonian Association of Mediators and the Mediation Institute.
Last update:
11/05/2021
The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective Member State. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. The European Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.