DE ROOJJAGTENBERG these institutions had been the american and British business communities. Unlike CPR and CEDR, however, NMI wishes to serve all branches in society with an NMI mainta ins a register of accredited NMI-mediators and liaises with oth institutions and govemment departments. To be registered as a NMI medator one must have attended (with success) one of the NMl-accredited mediation training courses. In addition, there is an annual contribution of approximately 200 EURO due NMI has its own mediation and disciplinary rules, code of conduct, and compaint procedure, which the NMI-medator has to comply with 13 Considering its activities, NMI can be regarded as The establishment of NMI was the first sign of institutionalisation of mediation in the Netherlands To date there are more than 2000 NMI-mediators and there are more mediators to come. It is surprising that most mediation training programmes are-still -fully booked. The num ber is exorbitant, when compared to the total number of mediations concluded. 14 Between 1996-2001. 1222 mediations were initiated through NMI. This number implies that on a verage one medator handles half a mediation annually! This(over)supply of mediators is not well balanced with the demand for mediation the frustration of dutch mediators Government interest The foundation of NMI was an impetus for the govemment, in particular the Ministry of Justice, to engage in mediation. One of the first actions of the Ministry of Justice was the installation of the so-called Platform ADR in August 1996. Its main task was to investigate the prospects for mediation in court proceedings. The composition of the committee was wide. There were representatives of the judiciary, legal profession, academic community, and the ministry itself. The major findings and recommendations of the pathom were laid down in its final report Conflictbemiddeling(Conflictmedation). 15 Under the auspices of the Platfom ADR two court annexed mediation pilot projects were undertaken. An important finding was that the referral to mediation by judges and legalaid bureaus was problematic. 16 A major recommendation by the Platform ADR was to continue experiments with court annexed mediation Following the final report of the Platform ADR, the so-called Meer Wegen naar het Recht Beleidsbrief ADR 2000-2002(More Ways to Justice ADR Policy Letter 2000-2002)was prepared by the Ministry of Justice and presented to parliament. 7 For the time being, this letter is the basis for the intending involvement by the govemment in the development of ADR. It must be said, however, that the direction of this envisaged govemmental involvement is vague In the policy letter dejuridisering and juridisering are the central, opposing TheserulesareallpublishedonthebilingualNmi-wEbsite:http://wwy The total number of mediators has easily passed that ofjudges, being 1600 Platform ADR Conflictbemiddeling(1998). Kocken CL B& van Manen N F Weg van het Recht Paul Scholten Instituut Univers ty of Amsterdam August 1998 Ministry of Justice Meerwegennaarhetrecht Beleidsbrief ADR 2000-200DE ROO/JAGTENBERG 4 these institutions had been the American and British business communities. Unlike CPR and CEDR, however, NMI wishes to serve all branches in society with an interest in mediation. NMI maintains a register of accredited NMI-mediators and liaises with other institutions and government departments. To be registered as a NMI-mediator one must have attended (with success) one of the NMI-accredited mediation training courses. In addition, there is an annual contribution of approximately 200 EURO due. NMI has its own mediation and disciplinary rules, code of conduct, and complaint procedure, which the NMI-mediator has to comply with.13 Considering its activities, NMI can be regarded as an umbrella organisation. The establishment of NMI was the first sign of institutionalisation of mediation in the Netherlands. To date, there are more than 2000 NMI-mediators and there are more mediators to come. It is surprising that most mediation training programmes are - still - fully booked. The number is exorbitant, when compared to the total number of mediations concluded.14 Between 1996-2001, 1222 mediations were initiated through NMI. This number implies that on average one mediator handles half a mediation annually! This (over)supply of mediators is not well balanced with the demand for mediation: the frustration of Dutch mediators. 3 Government interest The foundation of NMI was an impetus for the government, in particular the Ministry of Justice, to engage in mediation. One of the first actions of the Ministry of Justice was the installation of the so-called Platform ADR in August 1996. Its main task was to investigate the prospects for mediation in court proceedings. The composition of the committee was wide. There were representa tives of the judiciary, legal profession, academic community, and the ministry itself. The major findings and recommendations of the platform were laid down in its final report Conflictbemiddeling (Conflictmediation).15 Under the auspices of the Platform ADR two court annexed mediation pilot projects were undertaken. An important finding was that the referral to mediation by judges and legal aid bureaus was problematic.16 A major recommendation by the Platform ADR was to continue experiments with court annexed mediation. Following the final report of the Platform ADR, the so-called Meer Wegen naar het Recht Beleidsbrief ADR 2000-2002 (More Ways to Justice ADR Policy Letter 2000-2002) was prepared by the Ministry of Justice and presented to parliament.17 For the time being, this letter is the basis for the intending involvement by the government in the development of ADR. It must be said, however, that the direction of this envisaged governmental involvement is vague. In the policy letter dejuridisering and juridisering are the central, opposing 13. These rules are all published on the bilingual NMI-website: http://www.nmi-mediation.nl. 14. The total number of mediators has easily passed that of judges, being 1600. 15. Platform ADR Conflictbemiddeling (1998). 16. Kocken C L B & Van Manen N F Weg van het Recht Paul Scholten Instituut University of Amsterdam August 1998. 17. Ministry of Justice Meer wegen naar het recht Beleidsbrief ADR 2000-2002