Mediation Measures to Support Debtors Affected by COVID-19

Abstract

       COVID-19 pandemic which has spread abruptly and severely across the world has caused the significant contract and adverse effect to economics. This has affected to financial status of household and business sector and to the debtors’ ability to pay off debt their debtors which has significantly declined while debt has abruptly increased especially due to interest accumulated. As a result, Debtors have been brought to the debt collection process, court procedure and their properties have been seized for pay off debt. Many countries including Thailand has implemented many measures to rescue all debtors.

        For Thailand which the mediation process has been enacted in both Civil and Procedure Code and the Law on Mediation, Thai authorities has brought the principle of mediation as fundamental of measures, namely “Debt Relief Measures” “Debt Clinic Project” together with “Measure to Support Mediation”, supporting and alleviating debtors facing with financial difficulties caused by COVID-19. Those measures will promote and support both creditors and debtors to employ mediation to solve debt issue. This will be the outset to use mediation as effective instruments to solve not only household but also business debt and will be significant factor making debtors to operate their business as usual when COVID-19 situation unfolds.