India signs United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements

India has signed a key United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements to boost the confidence of the investors and to send a positive signal to foreign investors about India’s commitment to adhere to international practice on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements

• The United Nations General Assembly had adopted the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation on 20th December 2018.
• The convention is also known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation.
• The Convention provides a uniform and efficient framework for the enforcement of international settlement agreements resulting from mediation and for allowing parties to invoke such agreements similar to the t the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) (the “New York Convention”) provides for arbitral awards.
• The Convention defines two additional grounds upon which a court may, on its own motion, refuse to grant relief. Those grounds relate to the fact that a dispute would not be capable of settlement by mediation or would be contrary to public policy.

The convention is just a base convention to give a boost to the arbitration the convention must be supported by effective legislations in India.