The Scope of Settlement Agreements Covered by Singapore Convention 2019 With Comparative Study of Iranian Legal System

Conciliation or mediation is a specific way of resolving disputes because it bases on parties' agreement and settlement agreement is satisfactory for both parties. The United Nations has promoted this way of dispute settlement by ratifying the Singapore Convention 2019 on Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation. Iran's adhesion to the Convention is a positive step towards enhancing the status of mediation in Iranian legal system. One of the major issues raised in relation to the Singapore Convention is its scope. There must be three main features in a settlement agreement between the parties to fall within the scope of Convention: “Resulting from Mediation”, “Being international” and “Being commercial”. In the present article, the concept of these three elements is examined and Iranian law's position on them is discussed. The conclusion of this article is that considering philosophy of the Singapore Convention's enforcement regime for settlement agreements and to promote the status of mediation among dispute resolution methods, the above-mentioned three criteria should be widely interpreted to provide more settlement agreements supported by the Convention.