The Government, pursuant to sub-item p) of item No. 1 of Article 115 of the Constitution of the
Democratic Republic of East Timor, combined with the provisions of Article 50 of Law No.
7/2004, dated May, 5, decrees the following to be enforced as a law:
CHAPTER I
DEFINITIONS, NATURE AND DUTIES
Article 1
Definitions
For the purposes of this law, the following terms and expressions shall have the following
meanings, unless otherwise stipulated:
a) “Sound Governance” means the transparent use of governance to create an impartial,
efficient and responsible Public Administration in compliance with the principles of legality
and the democratic rule of law;
b) “Reconciliation” means the process through which the parties in a litigation, with the
assistance of an impartial third party called “mediator”, identify controversial issues,
develop options, review the alternatives and strive to reach an agreement; the mediator
plays an advisory role, providing specialized assistance so as to determine the boundaries
of the litigation and define the terms of an agreement, actively encouraging the participants
to reach a consensus;
c) “Human Rights and fundamental freedoms” means the rights, freedoms and guarantees
stated in part II of the Constitution and the rights acknowledged in the documents on
Human Rights of the United Nations, interpreted according to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights;
d) “Mismanagement” means the acts and omissions committed by misuse or abuse of power,
based on irrelevant considerations or on error in facto or in law or groundless in a fair and
equitable proceeding that hinders or jeopardizes the regular and effective operation of the
Public Administration;
e) ”Mediation” means the process through which a neutral third party called “mediator” acts
with the aim of facilitating the resolution of litigation between two or more parties; it is an
informal and non adversarial process that may take place voluntarily, by a court order or
by virtue of a pre-existing contractual agreement, and seeks to help the litigating parties to
reach a voluntary and mutually accepted agreement; the mediator does not play a formal
advisory or commanding role as to the content or resolution of the litigation, but can advise
the parties on the issue under litigation or in establishing the boundaries thereof and
provide assistance in the search for alternative solutions; however the decision-making
power resides with the parties;
f) ”Public agencies or entities” include: