The mediation step is compulsory (although you can ask the Tribunal to allow you to skip that step) but attendance is not – the advice given by Fair Trading is not correct. If someone applies for mediation and you are the other party you can decline to attend, in which case the person who applied can then take the next step of going to the Tribunal.
We were recently the subject of an application for mediation. The letter specifically states that you can decline to attend. That is the nature of mediation – you can hardly force someone to mediate, at least not at that level. Of course if you decline, then it doesn’t look that good.
Yes anything that occurs at the mediation is confidential, all the people attending have to sign an agreement to that effect.
In terms of who you take action against, no you can’t take action against the EC, the other party is the Owners Corporation. As the EC represents the OC, it is essentially the same thing anyway.