Singapore Convention as a Flexible Protective Umbrella for Enforcement of Settlement Agreements

The article analyses the provisions of the Singapore Convention relating first, to the prerequisites for its applicability, second, to the evidence necessary to prove that a settlement agreement has been entered into before a mediator, and third, to the conditions for its effectiveness determined by objections aimed at refusing to enforce the settlement agreement. The purpose of this article is to assess the indicated regulations of the Convention and their potential imperfections and the difficulties they may generate in the course of the proceedings aimed at ensuring the enforceability of the settlement agreement. In the conclusion, it is pointed out that, despite its many imperfections, the Convention may constitute an important “protective umbrella” for international settlement agreements, the potential of which depends on the parties to the settlement and the legal solutions developed in the legal systems of the Parties to the Convention. The Convention will then not become a proverbial Trojan horse in the hands of a party bent on litigation obstruction.