{"id":31252,"date":"2025-10-29T12:24:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/?p=31252"},"modified":"2025-10-29T12:24:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:24:39","slug":"non-judicial-dispute-resolution-mechanisms-masc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/non-judicial-dispute-resolution-mechanisms-masc\/","title":{"rendered":"Non-Judicial Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (MASC)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Organic Law 1\/2025 dated January 2, on measures to improve the efficiency of the public justice system<\/strong>, requires parties in most civil and commercial cases to attempt a <strong>Non-Judicial Dispute Resolution Mechanism (MASC)<\/strong> before filing a lawsuit, except in specific cases. This is now a prerequisite for bringing a claim.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A <strong>MASC<\/strong> is any type of negotiation process where the parties try to resolve a dispute outside of court, either on their own or with the help of a neutral third party. Key points include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>The parties, the subject of the negotiation, and the dispute must be the same.<\/li>\n<li>The process is guided by the principle of private autonomy, but all laws, good faith, and public policy must be respected.<\/li>\n<li>Matters that cannot be freely negotiated (non-dispositive) are excluded.<\/li>\n<li>Agreements can be full or partial.<\/li>\n<li>If there\u2019s a disagreement on which MASC to use, the one proposed first takes priority.<\/li>\n<li>If a lawsuit is filed for the same matter, the parties\u2019 cooperation in the MASC will be considered and can affect legal costs.<\/li>\n<li>The negotiation process and any documentation are confidential (unless needed for verification), except in these cases:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>There\u2019s a written exemption.<\/li>\n<li>Challenging costs or seeking moderation.<\/li>\n<li>Requested by a criminal court judge.<\/li>\n<li>Public safety, child protection, or prevention of personal harm.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Types of MASC<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>1.-Mediation (Article 14)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Parties may be assisted by lawyers and must pay any associated fees.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>2.-Negotiation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Can be direct between the parties, assisted by their lawyers, or through appointed lawyers. Typically lasts 30 days to 3 months.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>3.-Conciliation<\/strong> (Articles 15\u201316)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Can be private or public. Public conciliation may be handled by a notary, registrar, LAJ, or judge. The conciliator must meet certain requirements and will: Hold an initial briefing session, draft a record of the start of conciliation, suggest possible solutions and prepare a final record showing whether an agreement was reached.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>4.-Confidential Binding Offer (Article 17)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Legal assistance is required unless the claim is under \u20ac2,000 or governed by sector-specific law. The offer must remain open for at least one month. If rejected, a lawsuit may be filed. Once accepted, the offer is binding and irrevocable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>5.-Independent Expert Opinion (Articles 12\u201313)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Parties may jointly appoint an independent expert to provide a non-binding opinion on the dispute. The opinion is confidential.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>6.-Collaborative Law (Article 19)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A structured program where parties, supported by legal professionals and neutral experts, work together to find a mutually agreeable solution. At the end, a Final Record documents all participants, circumstances, and whether an agreement was reached.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Effects of MASC<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Requesting a MASC <strong>pauses deadlines and prevents claims<\/strong> from expiring until the agreement is signed or negotiation ends without success.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If negotiation fails, a lawsuit must be filed within <strong>one year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Negotiation efforts must be documented.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Agreements must include participant details, date and place, obligations, and procedure followed, and be signed by all involved.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Agreements are binding, have the effect of res judicata, and prevent filing a claim on the same matter. They may also be converted into a public deed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Exceptions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some cases do not require MASC, such as fundamental rights protection, certain family matters (like filiation), urgent measures under Article 158 of the Civil Code, or summary possession disputes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>MASC is not required<\/strong> for executive claims, pre-claim precautionary measures, or certain voluntary jurisdiction proceedings, among others specified by law.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For further information or advice, the procedural team at <strong>addwill <\/strong>is available. You can contact us by <a href=\"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/contact-us\/\"><em>clicking here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Organic Law 1\/2025 dated January 2, on measures to improve the efficiency of the public justice system, requires parties in most civil and  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":31267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-procesal-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31259,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31252\/revisions\/31259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}