UAE Approves Accession to Singapore Convention on Mediated Settlements Under Federal Decree

The United Arab Emirates has issued Federal Decree No. 85 of 2026 approving accession to the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation, known as the Singapore Convention, according to Clyde & Co. The accession establishes a framework permitting qualifying commercial cross-border mediated settlements to be recognized and directly enforced by domestic courts without initiating fresh litigation.

The convention is not yet in force in the UAE and will take effect six months following the deposit of the UAE's instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Under Article 3, parties can seek direct enforcement of a qualifying settlement or invoke it as a defence to prove a dispute has already been resolved. The treaty applies strictly to written commercial settlement agreements that are international in nature.

The framework excludes settlement agreements already enforceable as court judgments or arbitral awards, as well as consumer, family, inheritance, and employment disputes. In addition, the UAE has adopted two reservations permitted under Article 8 of the convention: the treaty will not apply to disputes involving the State, its governmental bodies, or persons acting on their behalf, and it will only apply where the disputing parties have expressly agreed to its application.

To enforce an agreement under the convention, parties must produce the signed settlement agreement and verifiable evidence of mediation, such as the mediator's signature, written confirmation from the mediator, or an attestation from the administering mediation institution. The move follows prior domestic mediation initiatives, including Federal Decree Law No. 40 of 2023 and the establishment of the DIFC Courts Mediation Service Centre.