On The Issue Of Transnational Execution Of International Commercial Settlement Agreements

Compared with lawsuit and arbitration,mediation is increasingly becoming the preferred method for the parties in the resolution of international commercial disputes because of its high degree of autonomy and flexibility.However,the international community has not yet reached a consensus on the effectiveness and enforcement of the international settlement agreements resulting from mediation.Currently,the only relevant international legal documents are the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules(1980)and UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation(2002).Against this background,UNCITRAL began to draft a convention for the transnational enforcement of settlement agreements.From the perspective of this draft,this article first sorts out the current international community's exploration of this issue as well as the basic situation of the draft.Secondly,the relevant concepts of "mediation" have been analyzed,and the three characteristics of international commercial settlement agreements,“internationality”,“commerciality” and “resulting from independent mediation procedures”,were clarified.Thirdly,in accordance with the logical sequence of “theoretical analysis,extraterritorial legislation examples,China's relevant provisions,and relevant provisions of the draft”,the issues of the effectiveness and enforcement of international commercial mediation agreements and settlement agreements were studied respectively.Therefore,it is concluded that international commercial mediation agreements and settlement agreements should have effectiveness and enforceability,but whether giving them direct enforceability should be based on the specific domestic circumstances of each country.Finally,a holistic evaluation of this draft was made.At the same time,this article believes that the promulgation of the "Commercial Mediation Law" is the fundamental way to promote China's international commercial mediation system.