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Altogether the conciliation boards dealt with a total of 118,000 disputes last year. This was 9 percent more than the year before, when the increase was 7 percent. However, it is still a long way below the peak year of 1988 when the conciliation boards dealt with a total of 323,000 civil suits.
Last year the conciliation boards dealt with 9 percent more civil disputes than in the previous year. This was the third year in a row with an increase after a sustained, rapid decline in the period 1989-1994. In two thirds of the cases the defendant did not appear at the mediation, and in almost all of these cases a judgement by default was pronounced on the basis of the plaintiff's submission.
Non-appearance
The conciliation board can pronounce a judgement on terms specified in the Act. Among other things, if the defendant does not appear at the mediation or contact the board with a notice of intention to defend, the conciliation board can pronounce a judgement on the basis of the plaintiff's submission unless this is in conflict with "acknowledged facts". Two out of three cases that the conciliation board dealt with last year were judged by default. That is the same percentage of judgements by default as in the most recent previous years. One out of every six cases was dismissed. In the 20,500 remaining cases both parties appeared, and an attempt was made to reach agreement. Nearly 60 percent of these cases were judged by the conciliation board, usually after the defendant had accepted the statement of claim. In one out of five cases a settlement was reached between the parties, while the remaining fifth had to be referred to a higher judicial authority.
Weekly Bulletin issue no. 32, 1998