This article will provide a brief analysis of the Singapore Convention. Disputes on international trade and friendly settlement have been a matter of discussion on the international plane over the years.
What is the Singapore Convention?
On 20 December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly, by consensus, passed a resolution to adopt the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation. The General Assembly named this new agreement as “the Singapore Convention on Mediation”. 1United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting From Mediation, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly in its seventy-third session (A/RES/73/198), preliminary paragraphes. As the Assembly authorised the signing ceremony of the Convention to be held in Singapore on 7 August 2019, the Convention is also called as Singapore Convention. 2Ibid.
What does the Singapore Convention do?
The Singapore Convention on Mediation intends to ‘facilitate international trade and commerce by enabling disputing parties to easily enforce and invoke settlement agreements across borders. 3See official website of the Convention,https://www.singaporeconvention.org, accessed 18 May 2022. The Convention is based on concluding international settlement agreements through mediation. The text of the Convention will be at the centre of settling cross-border disputes.
How many countries signed the Convention?
As of 18 May 2022, the number of signatories increased to 55. 4See official website of the Convention, https://www.singaporeconvention.org, accessed 18 May 2022.
How many countries ratified the Convention?
Only 10 states complemented the ratification process of the Convention up to now. 5Ibid. Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Singapore, Qatar, Honduras. 6See official website of the United Nations Treaty Collection, https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXII-4&chapter=22&clang=_en, accessed 19 May 2022. Kazakhstan is the most recent party to the Convention.
Is the Republic of Turkey party to the Convention?
Turkey adopted the Law (No:7282) approving the ratification of the Singapore Convention on Mediation.
Official Gazette concerning the Law in question is available online here.
Turkey is, therefore, a party to the Convention.
Is the Singapore Convention in force?
The Convention is open to signature after the ceremony held in Singapore on 7 August 2019.
In accordance with its text, for the relevant state, the Convention comes into force six months after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. 7United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting From Mediation, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly in its seventy-third session (A/RES/73/198), para. 14. The completion of one of such procedures will be sufficient in enforcing.
Is the Singapore Convention on Mediation in force within the jurisdiction of Turkey?
‘When a State ratifies, accepts, approves or accedes to this Convention after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, this Convention shall enter into force in respect of that State six months after the date of the deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession’. 8Ibid.
Turkey adopted the Law (No:7282) approving the ratification of the Singapore Convention on Mediation, published in the Official Gazette on 11 March 2021.
Official Gazette concerning the Law in question is available online here.
The Law (No:7282) approving the ratification of the Singapore Convention on Mediation was approved by the Presidential Decree on 21 April 2021.
Official Gazette concerning the approval in question is available online here.
With the deposit of the instrument of ratification at the UN Headquarters in New York, Turkey becomes the eighth State Party to the Convention. The ratification by Turkey was effected on 11 October 2021. Accordingly, the Singapore Convention on Mediation entered into force in Turkey, as of 11 April 2022. 9See official website of the United Nations Information Service, ‘Press Releases:Turkey ratifies the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation’, https://unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/pressrels/2021/unisl322.html, accessed 19 May 2022.
Conclusion
As analyzed above, the Singapore Convention on Mediation is designed as a uniform and efficient legal framework on the international plane. It is applicable to international settlement agreements resulting from mediation within the jurisdiction of 9 countries including Turkey for now, and 55 countries in the near future.
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