The Analysis of Excluded Disputes from the Scope of Singapore Convention 2019 with Comparative Study of Iranian Law and Imamiyah Jurisprudence

The most recent enforceable international instrument for dispute resolution is Singapore Convention. The Singapore Convention 2019 aims at promotion of mediation by providing the enforceability of settlement agreements. Iran's adhesion to the Convention is a positive step towards enhancing the status of mediation in Iranian law. In the case of a settlement agreement falling within the scope of the Singapore Convention, it shall be enforceable in the member states’ jurisdiction. According to paragraph 3 of Article 1, some settlement agreements are excluded from the scope of the Convention because of the specific subject of dispute settled by mediation or conciliation which includes: “settlement agreements related to consumer, family, inheritance and labor law”. The legal status and conditions of these exclusions are important because of the impact on the benefit of a settlement agreement from enforcement according to the Convention. In addition to the analysis of Iranian law and Imamiyah Jurisprudence’ opinion on these disputes, the present paper concludes that Singapore Convention's approach to exclusion of settlement agreements related to family and inheritance law is justifiable because the aforementioned disputes are subject of far divergent rules in various legal systems and necessity of achievement consensus among all member states necessitates that the mentioned disputes be excluded from the Convention’s scope. However, the attitude of the Convention to exclude the labor and consumer law cannot be justified because it results in loss of consumers and labors.