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Commercial Dispute Resolution
On August 21, 2002, El Salvador enacted a Law on Mediation, Conciliation, and Arbitration. Although this is an important step for the efficient resolution of commercial disputes, El Salvador still must overcome a number of obstacles to have adequate means of dispute resolution.
Foremost among these is the court system itself, which suffers from numerous problems, including untenable delays, inadequate training of both professional and administrative staff, a lack of judicial independence, and otherwise unqualified personnel holding important positions, including judges.
Second, with respect to ADR such as arbitration, despite the possibility for using such tools to settle commercial disputes having existed in the law for more than a century, very few have availed themselves of this tool. One key impediment is the limited culture for ADR, meaning that many do not know about, trust, or think of it as an alternative, and only a modicum of interest has been shown since passage of the law. In both cases—with respect to the court system and ADR in general—steps must be taken, including, for example, better training of legal personnel and training in the benefits of efficient resolution of disputes, to bring El Salvador’s system of commercial dispute resolution up to par with the expectations and demands of international business.
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