Mediation and business law.

Summary Mediation, a contemporary subject that is at least in vogue, is intended to be applied in all fields of law, including business law. In this respect, the analysis shows us that, far from constituting a unitary concept, mediation is subject to confusion and is a notion whose contours remain, in spite of everything, rather vague. As such, a comparative analysis with the modes of dispute resolution used in business law is necessary to better define this concept. Mediation is thus useful to companies, whether they are SMEs or multinationals, in order to resolve their disputes amicably. In this sense, many supports are emerging, materialized by a multitude of mediation rules, enacted for the most part by organizations dedicated to alternative dispute resolution. Mediation is also proving to be a concept that is having an impact on business law, in that, on the one hand, it is inspiring the creation of other methods of amicable resolution of commercial disputes and, on the other hand, it is softening an essential notion of seemingly rigid contract law: the autonomy of the parties. Indeed, these last years have seen a plethora of amicable modes of commercial dispute resolution, most of which claim to belong, more or less directly, to mediation. After analysis, some of these claims turn out to be well-founded, others are pure opportunism. Moreover, the application of a mediation clause to a commercial dispute allows the parties to adapt the agreement binding them to the evolution of the economic situation and the occurrence of events beyond their control.