Mediation: legal certainty for international business in Colombia

Daniel Peña Valenzuela
Partner, Peña Mancero Abogados

Since September 12, 2026, the Singapore Convention on Mediation has been in force for Colombia. Our country signed the Convention on August 7, 2019, approved its incorporation through Law 2309 of 2023, obtained favorable constitutional review in Judgment C-418 of 2024, and deposited the instrument of ratification on March 12, 2026.

For entrepreneurs and investors, the Convention provides a framework to enforce, in another State Party, certain international commercial agreements reached through mediation. Its scope covers written agreements intended to resolve international commercial disputes. Mediation must consist of a procedure in which a third party assists the parties in reaching a settlement, without authority to impose a solution.

The legal benefit is concrete: the interested party may request enforcement of the agreement before the competent authority of the State where the measure is sought, presenting the signed agreement and proof that it resulted from mediation. The Convention also recognizes the validity of electronic communications, allows requests for translations, and requires authorities to act expeditiously.

This can improve risk management in supply, construction, distribution, financing, infrastructure, joint ventures, and investment contracts. A negotiated agreement may preserve business relationships that litigation could damage. The Convention itself acknowledges that mediation can reduce abrupt termination of commercial relationships, facilitate the administration of international operations, and generate efficiencies for justice systems. However, these are potential benefits, not guarantees of savings, speed, or effective recovery.

The Convention does not eliminate all risks. Enforcement may be denied, among other grounds, if the agreement is null, ineffective, non-binding, non-final, or unintelligible; if obligations have already been performed; if there was serious misconduct by the mediator; or if enforcement contradicts the agreement or the applicable legal order.

Comparison with other mechanisms is essential. Mediation under the Convention favors a consensual solution and preserves party autonomy. Arbitration, by contrast, leads to a decision imposed by an arbitral tribunal; if the negotiated agreement is incorporated into an enforceable award, it falls outside the Convention and is subject to the regime applicable to arbitral awards.

Conciliation may be appropriate when domestic law requires a specific authority, procedure, or approval. In particular, the Court emphasized that agreements approved judicially or concluded within judicial proceedings, when enforceable as judgments, are excluded from the Convention.

Traditional litigation remains necessary when a judicial decision, coercive measures, or protection of non-disposable rights is required. Mediation does not replace these avenues: it complements them.

As a contractual practice, it is advisable to carefully document the international nature of the dispute, the written agreement, signatures, mediator’s involvement, clarity of obligations, applicable law, and the documentation required for potential enforcement. The Convention strengthens predictability, but legal certainty will also depend on the quality of the agreement and compliance with procedural requirements in the country where enforcement is sought.

Sources: UNCITRAL, Law 2309 of 2023, and Judgment C-418 of 2024.