Litigation in English before the Netherlands Commercial Court

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On 1 January 2019 the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC) was created. The aim of the NCC is to resolve international commercial disputes and to meet the increasing need for English-language dispute resolution. On 8 March the NCC delivered its first judgment.

A matter may generally be submitted to the NCC when the parties to the proceedings have designated the Amsterdam District Court as the forum to hear their case and have expressly agreed in writing that court proceedings before the NCC will be in English.

The NCC will apply Dutch procedural law when settling disputes. The proceedings both in NCC and in NCC Court of Appeal will be in English. However, appeals in cassation at the Supreme Court of the Netherlands will be in Dutch.

The NCC can be attractive for parties who want to litigate in English and want to save on translation costs.Β  The legislator expects that in the long term the number of cases per year will amount to 100 cases at first instance level and 25 cases at the appeals level. The judgments of the NCC will be published in the Judgment List.

Do you want to know more about the NCC? On Thursday 18 April Bona Fide is organizing a symposium about the Netherlands Commercial Court. Find out more on their website.

Photo: Raimond Spekking