For information only - not an official document
UNIS/L/271
21 December 2018
VIENNA, 21 December (UN Information Service) - The United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation ("the Convention") on 20 December 2018. As authorized by the General Assembly, the Convention will open for signature at a signing ceremony to be held on 7 August 2019 in Singapore and will be known as the "Singapore Convention on Mediation".
Until the adoption of the Convention, the often-cited challenge to the use of mediation was the lack of an efficient and harmonized framework for cross-border enforcement of settlement agreements resulting from mediation. In response to this need, the Convention has been developed and adopted by the General Assembly.
The Convention ensures that a settlement reached by parties becomes binding and enforceable in accordance with a simplified and streamlined procedure. The Convention provides a uniform and efficient international framework for mediation, akin to the framework that the New York Convention has successfully provided over the past 60 years for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.
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 also contributes to strengthening access to justice, and to the rule of law.
***
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. Its mandate is to remove legal obstacles to international trade by progressively modernizing and harmonizing trade law. It prepares legal texts in a number of key areas such as international commercial dispute settlement, electronic commerce, insolvency, international payments, sale of goods, transport law, procurement and infrastructure development. UNCITRAL also provides technical assistance to law reform activities, including assisting Member States to review and assess their law reform needs and to draft the legislation required to implement UNCITRAL texts. The UNCITRAL Secretariat is located in Vienna, Austria. For more information, visit: uncitral.un.org.
* *** *
For information contact, please contact:
José Angelo
Estrella-Faria
Senior Legal Officer
UNCITRAL Secretariat
Email: joseangelo.estrella-faria@un.org
