In this 9/12 the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, known as the Singapore Mediation Convention, came into force.

This is a remarkable day for the international scenario of dispute resolution.

Article 14 of the Convention provides that it would enter into force six months after three of its signatories had ratified it into their domestic law, what happened in the 12 March this year, when Qatar became the third state to ratify the Convention.

The goal of UNCITRAL Working Group dedicated to the draft of the Convention was to create an international regime for the enforcement of mediation settlements that would contribute to increase the use of mediation as a conflict resolution method in international trade.

With the Singapore Convention the role of mediation is strengthened and the reached agreements enforcements will be simplified.

The Singapore Convention applies to commercial cross border mediation. An important issue to pay attention at is the fact that Singapore Convention is not based in reciprocity between member states, as its “sister” New York Convention.

And what does it mean? It means that a member state shall enforce mediated settlement agreements even if it comes from a non member state.

For example, if an international mediation was located in Brazil it might be enforced in Saudi Arabia.

On the other hand, under the Convention, the states may adopt a reservation provision, which allows them to declare that they will apply it only to the extent that the parties to the relevant settlement agreement have agreed that the Convention will apply.

Thus, international mediation players from all nationalities should from now bear in mind that Singapore Convention matters.