About Us
Read about our Institute
The European Institute for Conflict Resolution is a private non profit organization. The company’s name is “European Institute for Conflict Resolution”. The General Electronic Commercial Registry number of the company is: Geniko Emboriko Mitroo- G.E.MI. 140479304000.
Our mission
- To promote the mediation and the alternative dispute resolution.
- To develop training and educational activities in the field of mediation, negotiations and alternative dispute resolution.
- To develop and provide mediation, arbitration, negotiations and in general out of court dispute resolution.
- To promote alternative dispute resolution of domestic and cross-border disputes concerning contractual obligations stemming from both online and offline sales or services contracts between a consumer resident in EU and a trader established in EU.
- To support the dispute resolution concerning complaints submitted through the ODR platform according to the Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 of the European Parliament and the Directive 2013/11/EE.
The company in order to accomplish the above missions and promote widely the alternative dispute resolution, has cooperated with training and educational institutions in Greece and abroad.
Income
- The annual subscriptions and/or the special contributions of the share holders;
- The development and the provision of services relating to mediation, arbitration, negotiations and in general the out of court dispute resolution;
- The alternative dispute resolution of domestic and cross-border disputes concerning contractual obligations stemming from both online and offline sales or services contracts between a consumer resident in EU and a trader established in EU;
- The donations, inheritances, bequests, subsidies, national, European or other international programs or donations from members or third natural or legal persons, domestic and foreign institutions and organizations and/or sponsorships from the European Union provided to the company to support the objective;
- Any net income resulting from the Company’s activities and every single legal cause in the framework of the Company’s objectives and existing legal provisions;
- Any net income resulting from the conferences’ and seminars’ organization, the Company’s publications, income from other activities and in general from the property rights acquired by the company during its operation in the fulfillment of its objectives.
The Company, as a non profit organization, does not distribute profits to the shareholders either during its operation or at the stage of dissolution.
The natural persons who are in charge of alternative dispute resolution at the European Institute for Conflict Resolution possess the required expertise and they are independent and impartial.
Furthermore:
- They possess the necessary knowledge and skills in the field of alternative dispute resolution or judicial resolution of consumer disputes, as well a general understanding of law;
- They are appointed for a term of office of sufficient duration to ensure the independence of their actions, and are not liable to be relieved from their duties without just cause;
- They are not subject to any instructions from either party or their representatives;
- They are remunerated in a way that is not linked to the outcome of the procedure;
- Without undue delay they disclose to the ADR entity any circumstance that may, or may be seen to, affect their independence and impartiality or give rise to a conflict of interest with either party to the dispute they are asked to resolve. The obligation to disclose such circumstances shall be a continuing obligation throughout the ADR procedure.
We ensure that we have in place procedures to ensure that in case of circumstances referred to in point (e) of paragraph 1:
- The natural person in charge is replaced by another natural person that shall be entrusted with conducting the ADR procedure; or failing that
- The natural person concerned refrains from conducting the ADR procedure and, where possible, we propose to the parties to submit the dispute to another ADR entity which is competent to deal with the dispute; or failing that
- The circumstances are disclosed to the parties and the natural person concerned is allowed to continue to conduct the ADR procedure only if the parties have not objected.
The European Institute for Conflict Resolution follows procedures that comply with the following specific requirements
- The natural persons in charge of dispute resolution are nominated by, or form part of, a collegial body composed by an equal number of representatives of consumer organizations and of representatives of consumer organizations and of representatives of the trader and are appointed as result of a transparent procedure;
- The natural persons in charge of dispute resolution are granted a period of office of a minimum of three years to ensure the independence of their actions;
- The natural persons in charge of dispute resolution commit not to work for the trader or a professional organization or business association of which the trader is a member for a period of three years after their position in the dispute resolution entity has ended;
- The dispute resolution entity does not have any hierarchical or functional link with the trader and is clearly separated from the trader’s operational entities and has a sufficient budget at its disposal, which is separate from the trader’s general budget to fulfil its tasks.
Founding members
Zoe Giannopoulou and Stefanos Stefanou are the founding members.
Zoe Giannopoulou is a Lawyer, an Accredited Mediator and an Accredited Mediators’ Trainer by the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights and exercises the management of the institute.
Executive Committee
Zoe Giannopoulou, General Director and Head Operations manager, Lawyer, Accredited mediator, General Manager Operations of the European Institute For Conflict Resolution.
Sofia Giannopoulou, Associate Director and Coordinator of ADR procedures, Accredited Mediator by the Greek Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, ADRg UK.
Scientific Committee
Lambros Kotsiris, Emeritus Professor, Law School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Member of Academy of Athens, President of Mediators’ Accreditation Committee Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights (2016-2020).
Ali Nourai, Barrister, Civil Commercial and Onine Accredited Mediator in the UK.
Rahim Shamji, Barrister, Civil Commercial, Family Business, Hybrid and Workplace Accredited Mediator in the UK, Senior Lecturer at BPP Law School in Uk, Director of ADR – ODR International, President Elect at the International Academy of Dispute Resolution in the USA
Aleš Zalar, Director of the European Center for Dispute Resolution, Minister of Justice, November 2008 – 2012, President of the District Court in Ljubljana.
Diana Wallis, Senior Fellow Lecturer in EU Law, Private International Law, Arbitration and Mediation at Hull Law School, ex Vice President of the European Parliament, Civil Commercial Accredited Mediator CEDR Uk.
Advisory Committee
Styliani Zarkada, LLM, Lawyer, Accredited Mediator by the Greek mInistry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, ADRg UK, Head of legal advice.
Basilia Sarafi, Lawyer, Translator, Accredited Researcher by Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence, Head of Translations and Publications.
Eleni Stylianou, LLM, Lawyer, Accredited Mediator ADRg UK, Head of Development of International Cooperations.