August 28, 2019
OpinioJuris
On August 7, 2019, after much internal debate, the People’s Republic of China (“PRC” or “China”) signed the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (“Singapore Mediation Convention” or “SMC”). This is a momentous event in the development of the cross-border dispute resolution industry in China and provides China with an opportunity to develop a dispute resolution mechanism that addresses its international strategic commercial needs better than existing adjudicative forms (i.e., litigation and arbitration). These needs could propel China to become a primary service provider for the resolution of international commercial disputes by way of mediation provided that China, through judicious capacity building, can fully professionalize its commercial mediation services institutions.
