Optimization and Innovation of the Commercial Mediation System in China’s Pilot Free Trade Zones:​​ Taking the Singapore Convention as the Institutional Context

In light of the Singapore Convention's enforcement in China, it will create a path to resolving disputes through mediated agreements executed under the Singapore Convention and, therefore, provide greater consistency and enforceability for these agreements across borders. To align China’s domestic mediation framework with the Singapore Convention’s expectations and to ensure that Singapore Convention-mediated settlement agreements become finalized and enforceable, China will need to adopt a two-tiered policy strategy: (1) Fast-track the enactment of commercial mediation legislation that will set a codified framework for mediation and identify and make any required modifications to ensure that the legislative framework aligns with the Singapore Convention; (2) Concurrently invest the necessary resources in developing the strategic structure needed for China’s domestic commercial mediation system (e.g., governing and operating mediation institutions; developing and standardizing mediation rules for commercial mediation; developing a mediator’s code of ethics; creating a systematic approach to recruit, train, and supervise mediators; and designing the methodology for resolving disputes in accordance with established norms and incorporating relationship and cultural factors into the process). The ultimate goal of China’s two-tiered policy approach would be to create a well-developed mediation system that meets or exceeds the global standards of existing international commercial mediation systems. China’s Free Trade Zones (FTZs) are ideally suited to serve as a pilot reform laboratory, enabling China to experiment with and/or conduct pilot reforms, stress-test innovative institutional approaches, and subsequently replicate the successful changes across China.