UAE joins Singapore Convention on Mediation

The United Arab Emirates has acceded to the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, commonly known as the Singapore Convention on Mediation. The accession by the United Arab Emirates was effected on 8 October 2026, becoming the Convention’s twenty-fifth State party. The Convention will enter into force for the UAE on 8 April 2027.

The Singapore Convention establishes a harmonised framework through which international commercial settlement agreements resulting from mediation may be invoked and enforced. It promotes mediation by addressing the practical difficulty of enforcing mediated settlements across borders.

Once the Convention enters into force for the UAE, qualifying mediated settlement agreements may be enforced before the UAE’s competent authorities without the enforcing party first obtaining a court judgment or arbitral award reflecting the settlement terms. A party may also invoke a settlement agreement to establish that a matter has already been resolved. The party seeking relief must provide the settlement agreement and evidence of mediation.

However, the UAE has made both reservations permitted under Article 8 of the Convention. First, the Convention will not apply to settlement agreements to which the UAE government, any government agency or any person acting on behalf of a government agency is a party. Second, it will apply only where the parties to the settlement agreement have agreed to its application. Parties wishing to benefit from the Convention must therefore expressly opt in.

The Convention applies to written settlement agreements resulting from mediation and resolving international commercial disputes. It excludes certain consumer, family, inheritance and employment disputes. Settlement agreements enforceable as judgments or arbitral awards are also excluded, avoiding overlap with other international enforcement regimes, such as the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

Enforcement may be refused on the limited grounds specified in the Convention, including incapacity, invalidity of the settlement agreement, serious mediator misconduct, public policy, or where the subject matter is not capable of settlement by mediation.

The UAE joins Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as a GCC state party. More broadly, a qualifying mediated settlement may be enforced or invoked in other states where the Convention is in force, subject to its scope and applicable reservations.

For businesses, the UAE’s accession strengthens mediation as a means of resolving cross-border commercial disputes. Parties wishing to benefit from the Convention should consider expressly agreeing to its application and ensuring that any resulting settlement satisfies the Convention’s requirements.