Download This PaperEnforcement of Mediated Settlement Agreements under the Singapore Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law: An Argument for the Opt-In Model
Christian Campbell (ed.) International Mediation: The Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business (Special Issue 2020) (Kluwer) pp. 63-83
22 Pages Posted: 28 Apr 2020
Date Written: August 31, 2019
Abstract
The Singapore Convention (United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation) was adopted in 2018. In the same year, the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation (2002) was amended with the addition of a new section on international settlement agreements and their enforcement (Section 3). With the amendment, it was renamed as the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Mediation and International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (2018).
The Convention permits the contracting States to enter a reservation under Article 8(1)(b) in favor of the opt-in model by declaring that they will apply the Convention only to the extent that the parties to a mediated settlement agreement have agreed to its application. The Model Law expressly contemplates certain modifications, including a modification in favor of the opt-in model: its footnote 6 says that a State may consider enacting Section 3 to apply only where the parties to a mediated settlement agreement agreed to its application.
This article argues that the States ratifying the Convention or implementing the Model Law should adopt the opt-in model.
Keywords: mediation, Singapore Convention, UNCITRAL Model Law, settlement agreement
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