The citizens will benefit from a higher number of state-guaranteed mediation services. Parliament gave a final reading to a bill providing for the incorporation of these services into the state-guaranteed legal aid system and the extension of the list of cases in which such services are offered, IPN reports.

The Ministry of Justice said that such services will be provided to persons whose incomes are lower than the minimum official monthly salary. Also, regardless of the amount of incomes, the services will be offered to all the minors, persons under 21, and to persons with severe or accentuated disabilities.

Under the document, state-guaranteed mediation services will be offered in criminal and contravention cases when reconciliation leads to the removal of criminal or contravention responsibility and in civil cases in which the sides can freely pay, by transaction, in accordance with the law.

About 200,000 lei a year will be needed to reward the mediators who will provide state-guaranteed mediation services.

In accordance with the law, state-guaranteed mediation services are offered only in criminal cases. However, no request to the state to pay for such services has been made since 2009 as the normative framework doesn’t clearly regulate this mechanism.