Online event: 16 December 2026
“The Position of the European Union towards the Singapore Convention on Mediation ”

The Singapore Convention on Mediation is the United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 2018 and opened for signature in Singapore on 7 August 2019. There are already 19 Parties to the Singapore Convention on Mediation, which has entered into force since 12 September 2020, and there are additional 42 Signatories, among which Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, Saudi, Arabia, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, and some countries of Eastern Europe. So far, not one member state of the European Union nor the European Union itself have signed this international convention on the cross-border enforcement of international settlement agreements resulting from mediation.

18:30 – brief welcome EDRS

18:40 – 19:10 : Keynote speech by Mr. Gordon Humphreys

Chairperson of the First Board and the Third Board of Appeal at the EUIPO, Alicante When Global Treaties Knock : Dilemmas and Challenges in embracing the Singapore Convention on Mediation within the EU

19:10 – 19:40 : Panel discussion with :

• Dr. Herman Verbist (moderator)
  Partner Everest Attorneys / Arbitration and Mediation         
  
  
• Dr. Norel Rosner
  EU Commission, DG Justice and Consumers, Brussels
  
  
• Mr. Ales Zalar
  Director at the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC) of the Unified Patent Court, Ljubljana
  Former Minister of Justice of Slovenia
  
  
• Dr. Judith Knieper
  Legal Officer, United Nations Commission on International Trade law (UNCITRAL), Vienna
  Secretary of Working Group II on Dispute Settlement and responsible for Mediation

19:40 – 20:00 : Q&A