Problems and prospects of legal regulation of mediation in the sphere of consumer rights protection financial services

Economic instability is a period when financial risks objectively increase, and the need for the well-coordinated functioning of the protective mechanisms for the rights of consumers of financial services becomes especially relevant. The strategy of state policy in the field of consumer protection for the period up to 2030, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, is aimed at developing these mechanisms. consumer rights. At the same time, the existing legal regulation of mediation processes does not allow to effectively realize the full potential of mediation as a mechanism for resolving disputes in the Russian Federation. Thus, there is a need for its scientific study, especially in the light of current trends in the functioning of national financial institutions.
The purpose of the study is to identify the problematic aspects of regulating mediation legal relations, as well as formulating proposals for improving the organizational and legal foundations of mediation as a promising innovative mechanism for protecting the rights of consumers of financial services.
The main research methods that made it possible to characterize the features of the legal regulation of mediation as an alternative to the judicial and administrative method of protecting the rights of consumers of financial services, as well as to formulate proposals for improving the legal regulation of mediation procedures in general, and mediation with the participation of consumers of financial services in particular, were general scientific methods. knowledge (analysis and synthesis, generalization and analogy), the philosophical method of dialectical knowledge, special methods of technical-legal and comparative legal analysis.
As a result of the study, the need to improve the legal regulation of mediation in general, including mediation in disputes on the protection of the rights of consumers of financial services, is substantiated, for which it is proposed: 1) to establish a mandatory system of self-regulatory organizations (SROs) to unite mediators as subjects of professional activity. The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation shall entrust the maintenance of the register and control over the activities of SROs of mediators; 2) to provide in the procedural codes a rule on the mandatory informational conversation of the parties to the conflict with the mediator on the categories of disputes for which the current legislation establishes the use of a mandatory pre-trial claim procedure; 3) supplement the regulations of the executive authorities with sections on mediation; 4) develop and approve a unified training program for mediators, taking into account professional standards and federal state educational standards; 5) provide for the obligation of the Bank of Russia to post lists of mediators on its website; 6) establish the responsibility of financial organizations for violating the principle of voluntary mediation and imposing “pocket mediators” on consumers of financial services. Along with this, the generalization of the positive experience of its application in various categories of disputes, in the form of a Code of Best Practice, will contribute to an increase in the demand for mediation. 

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