Abstract

The Union State of Russia and Belarus is a versatile interstate formation combining the features of political union and economic integration. Its activities are governed mostly by intergovernmental treaties and conventions, including multilateral agreements on legal assistance providing for the mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments issued by the national commercial courts and of arbitral awards. Thanks to the Singapore Convention on Mediation, the latter will likely become a trend for the settlement of international commercial disputes. The author analyses the possible influence of the Singapore Convention on the harmonization of the legislation of the Union State, mechanisms of enforcement of mediated settlement agreements available under the national legislations of the member states and how mediation is regulated in Russia and Belarus. Since international commercial arbitration is the most popular alternative dispute resolution (ADR) method for settlement of international commercial disputes, an outline of the national legislation of both States on international commercial arbitration is provided. It is followed by conclusions on the sufficiency of the existing mechanisms for enforcement of mediated settlement agreements, the prospective of future harmonization of the legislation related to commercial mediation within the Union State of Russia and Belarus and within larger economic integration organizations of post-Soviet States, namely the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

This paper will be part of the TDM Special Issue on "The Changing Paradigm of Dispute Resolution and Investment Protection in Post-soviet and Greater Eurasian Space". More information here www.transnational-dispute-management.com/news.asp?key=1745