Section 3: Procedure

When a referral is made to the mediator by one of the parties, he shall inform the other parties, by letter delivered against signature or by any other means capable of establishing proof of the date of receipt of the referral, within eight days of receipt of the referral. The parties then have a period of thirty working days to send their observations to the mediator and to the claimant…

The mediator has a period of three months in which to carry out his task, from the date of receipt of the request, or where applicable the date of receipt of the parties’ observations, or the expiry of the time limit for producing them. This task may be renewed once, for the same period, at the mediator’s request and with the agreement of the parties.

The mediator hears the parties, separately or jointly, and any person whose hearing he deems useful. The parties may be assisted by any person of their choice, whose identity they shall disclose prior to the hearing. The mediator shall draw up a record of the hearings.

When a party invokes business secrecy, it shall inform the mediator, at the time of disclosure, of the information, documents or parts of documents that it considers to be covered by such secrecy and which may not then be made public or communicated to the other parties.

The mediator shall promote or encourage any resolution of the disputes referred to him. The substance of the agreement between the parties, even if partial, recorded by the mediator, shall be recorded in a statement signed by the parties and the mediator specifying the measures to be taken to implement it. A copy of this statement shall be given to each party by any means capable of establishing proof of…

If, at the end of the period provided for in article R. 321-37, no agreement has been reached between the parties, the mediator shall draw up a report noting this failure, which he shall explain and a copy of which shall be given to each party by any means capable of establishing proof of the date of receipt.

In the case provided for in Article R. 321-41, the mediator may also issue a recommendation, which shall be notified to the parties by any means capable of establishing proof of the date of receipt. Within three months of receiving the recommendation, the parties shall inform the mediator of the action taken on the recommendation.

The mediator communicates the finding of the second paragraph of article R. 321-40, the recommendation and the action taken on it by the parties, or the report noting the failure of the mediation to the chairman of the commission. The chairman of the committee communicates this information to the Minister for Culture. .

Statements taken may not be produced or relied upon by a party without the agreement of the party that produced them in the context of another mediation procedure, arbitration procedure or court procedure. The mediator’s findings may not be produced by the parties, with the exception of those made public.

Each year, the ombudsman sends a report on his activities to the chairman of the supervisory commission and to the minister responsible for culture. This report is appended to the report provided for in article L. 327-12.