Context: Recently, the Singapore Convention on Mediation, also known as the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation has come into force.
Singapore Convention

• It is aimed to provide a more effective way of enforcing mediated settlements of corporate disputes involving businesses in India and other countries that are signatories to the Convention.
• Also known as the UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, this is also the first UN treaty to be named after Singapore.
• With the Convention in force, businesses seeking enforcement of a mediated settlement agreement across borders can do so by applying directly to the courts of countries that have signed and ratified the treaty.
• The harmonized and simplified enforcement framework under the Convention translates to savings in time and legal costs.

Its signatories

• The Convention has 53 signatories, including India, China and the U.S.
• Singapore had worked with the UN Commission on International Trade Law, other UN member states and non-governmental organisations for the Convention.

Significance of the convention

• The Convention would boost India’s ‘ease of doing business’ credentials by enabling swift mediated settlements of corporate disputes.
• The Convention has been designed to become an essential instrument in the facilitation of international trade and in the promotion of mediation as an alternative and effective method of resolving trade disputes.
• It will ensure that a settlement reached by parties becomes binding and enforceable in accordance with a simplified and streamlined procedure.
• Businesses seeking enforcement of a mediated settlement agreement across borders can do so by applying directly to the courts of countries that have signed and ratified the treaty, instead of having to enforce the settlement agreement as a contract in accordance with each country’s domestic process.
• The harmonised and simplified enforcement framework will save time and legal costs, which are of crucial importance in uncertain times posed by pandemics like Covid-19.
• Businesses in India and around the world will now have greater certainty in resolving cross-border disputes through mediation, as it provides a more effective means for mediated outcomes to be enforced.