Alternative dispute resolution procedure, i.e. court mediation, has been available in Hungarian courts since the second semester of 2012, and is an effective tool of enhancing customer satisfaction and timeliness in civil litigious and non-litigious cases. From 1 January 2018, the parties will have the possibilities to approve the mediation agreement in court in a settlement attempt at a very low fee to make it enforceable. Also from 1 January 2018, in administrative court proceedings, the judge may, with the agreement of the parties, impose a court mediation procedure in the cases in which the law does not preclude it.   At the same time the order is suspended until the end of the proceedings, but for a maximum of two months. Its benefit is that the time and date of the hearings and the substance of the agreements reached with the participation of the mediator can be adjusted to the needs of the parties. In the court mediation procedure, the parties are not bound by the content of the application (except in administrative cases), however, if the parties so request, the part of the agreement that is in line with the application is approved by the court as court settlement, and therefore its effect will be identical to that of a judgment passed in a litigation. A further benefit of the procedure is that it is duty-free, and no hourly rates need to be paid or costs reimbursed for its performance. Depending on in which stage of the procedure the litigation is closed based on the agreement reached, the parties may also request a duty benefit.