Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
REFLECTIONS ON THE UNCITRAL CONVENTION ON THE ENFORCEMENT OF MEDIATION SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS AND MODEL LAW
Masood Ahmed *
Although international commercial arbitration remains the pre-eminent choice of ADR procedure in the resolution of cross-border disputes, commercial parties are increasingly turning towards more collaborative forms of ADR such as international commercial mediation. However, unlike the New York Convention, which has successfully facilitated the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, there is currently no international enforcement regime available for settlement agreements concluded following a successful mediation. That lacuna will soon be filled by the introduction in 2019 of the proposed UNCITRAL Convention on the Enforcement of Mediation Settlement Agreements and Model Law. This paper critically analyses some of the key provisions of the Convention and Model Law and makes proposals for improvement.
1. Introduction
At its 51st session on 26 June 2018, the United National Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)1 approved the Working Group II (Dispute Resolution)’s final drafts for a Convention on the Enforcement of Mediation Settlement Agreements (“the Convention”) and corresponding Model Law.2 The Model Law amends the existing 2002 Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation and replicates the enforcement articles of the Convention as well as changing the terminology from “conciliator” and conciliation to “mediator” and mediation.’3 It is proposed that the Convention will be called the “Singapore Mediation Convention” and an official signing ceremony is due to take place in Singapore in 2019, following which at least three Contracting States must ratify the Convention for it to come into force.4
* Associate Professor of Law, University of Leicester.
1. UNCITRAL describes itself as “the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law. A legal body with universal membership specializing in commercial law reform worldwide for over 50 years, UNCITRAL’s business is the modernization and harmonization of rules on international business”: www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/about_us.html.
2. United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Fifty-first session New York, 25 June–13 July 2018, Report of Working Group II (Dispute Settlement) on the work of its
sixty-eighth session (New York, 5–9 February 2018).
3. UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation with Guide to Enactment and Use 2002.
4. Announced on the United Nations Information Service, www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/pressrels/2018/unisl264.html.
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