It is also a guide to the different areas Panama offers to do business, providing full legal counseling required by persons and international and domestic companies, in general.

The matters of arbitration, conciliation and mediation are regulated in Panama by means of Decree Law No. 5 of July 8, 1999. Arbitration institutions may be established provided they are authorized by the Ministry of Government and Justice. As a financial commercial center, international commercial arbitrations may be conducted depending on the concurrence of certain conditions. There are specialized centers for arbitration petitions institutionalized in law or equity, national and international. Procedures are simple, with ease of understanding and application and there is no procedural demand. The award is considered res judicata and enforceable. This law decree also establishes conciliation as a peaceful solution of conflicts, whereby the parties negotiate the settlement of their own conflicts with the participation of a facilitator named Conciliator, who is duly qualified. Further, Panama also counts with Mediation as an alternate method for the settlement of non-adversary conflicts whose purpose is to seek and ease communication between the parties with the participation of a competent third party named Mediator, in order to reach an agreement ending the conflict or controversy. Mediation can be public or private, institutional or indepedendent, and matters being subject to transaction, denial and negotiation as well as other regulatory matters can be submitted to mediation. These matters create a new professional scope in Panama, allowing national and international companies to reach a peaceful agreement between the parties in controversy, with minor legal costs.

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