Managing Partner and Head of Litigation and Dispute Management Philip Fong comments in The Times article titled "Could the UK’s absence from the Singapore convention harm its post‑Brexit prospects?"

Eversheds Harry Elias Managing Partner and Head of Litigation and Dispute Management Philip Fong comments in The Times article titled "Could the UK’s absence from the Singapore convention harm its post‑Brexit prospects?". The article was first published on 5 September 2019. 

Could the UK’s absence from the Singapore convention harm its post‑Brexit prospects?

Below is an excerpt from the article which features comments from Philip:

Mediation for resolving international dust-ups between big businesses or wealthy individuals had a big boost this summer. Senior legal figures from around the world gathered in Singapore for the birth of a groundbreaking international mediation agreement named after the island state.

The Singapore convention — or, to give it its full title, the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting From Mediation — aims to provide for the enforcement of cross-border mediated settlements, similarly to the way that the New York convention does in arbitrated agreements.

But there was no UK delegation at the Singapore launch. While 46 nations, including the US, China, India and South Korea, signed up, neither the UK nor any other European Union countries were signatories. Although the bloc, including the UK, was an active participant in the drafting process, Brussels bureaucrats have yet to determine whether participation is a matter for the EU or individual member states.

While the convention has set the ball rolling, Philip Fong, the managing partner of Eversheds Harry Elias in Singapore, says it is still in a “nascent stage”.

He observed notable absences from the initial signatories, such as Australia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Burma, and pointed out that countries that have signed up still have to ratify it in their respective parliaments and establish their enforcement procedures.

Full article can be found here. 

Source: The Times

Author: Catherine Baksi