Conference presentation: Procedural fairness in online mediation

Tue 11 May 2021 

By Dr Xue BAI

 

On Tuesday, 30 March 2021, UNSW Law’s China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre member Associate Professor Kun Fan presented at the “Dispute Resolution in the Digital Economy” online workshop organised by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), Ministry of Justice, and the Japan International Dispute Resolution Center (JIDRC).

The conference had 6 sessions and Associate Professor Kun Fan presented at Session 3, “ Use of technology in international mediation.” It was moderated by Ms. Athita Komindr, Head of the UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific.

Associate Professor Kun Fan spoke on “Procedural Fairness in Online Mediation”. Her presentation explored two key questions – “what are the key elements to determine whether the disputants have experienced procedural fairness in the online mediation process?’ and “what can be done to enhance the disputants’ overall perception of procedural justice in online mediation?”

Associate Professor Fan explained that to disputants, procedural justice is more likely to be determined by whether the process is fair, satisfying, and legitimate, as there is generally no evidentiary hearing, no decision-maker, and no application of the law to the facts in mediation. There are six key elements that help determine whether the disputants have experienced procedural fairness: the equal treatment of the parties, respect, neutrality, trustworthiness, consistency, and ethical rules. Associate Professor Fan  provided suggestions to enhance the disputants’ overall perception of procedural justice in online mediation.

Full discussions and the recording of the panel are available here (Kun Fan’s presentation starts at approximately 1:17h).