Earlier this month, Brazilian Congress ratified the Singapore Convention, officially known as the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, which represents an important milestone in strengthening consensual dispute resolution methods.
Conceived at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2018, the Convention aims at creating a safer environment for international commercial transactions and has already been signed by 58 countries — 18 of which have already ratified it internally, including Costa Rica, Japan, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia.
According to the Convention, agreements entered in the context of international mediation may be directly enforced in other countries in the event of non-compliance, without the need for prior homologation and/or validation by the local judiciary.
In other words, the Convention unifies the requirements for the enforcement of agreements resulting from mediation, offering an expedited proceeding despite any differences in the local laws of the countries involved.
After Brazil signed the Convention in 2021, it still needed to be approved by the Brazilian Congress, a process that has now been completed, awaiting only a presidential decree to officially enter into force.
The Convention not only brings greater security to international contracts, especially in foreign trade, but also values the reduction of litigation. Bringing the expectation of faster compliance with international agreements, the ratification of the convention is in line with the spirit of Brazilian laws by promoting the consensual resolution of disputes, positioning Brazil as one of the protagonists in the global mediation scenario, as is already the case with arbitration.
The convention applies to written agreements resulting from mediation proceedings between parties from different countries, although it does not extend to certain practice areas, such as consumer, labor, family, succession, and agreements signed by the State itself.
Our Litigation team is available to discuss the topic and clarify any questions about the new convention and other benefits involving the adoption of the mediation procedure.
