Netherlands Commercial Court

The Netherlands Commercial Court is coming! It will soon be possible in the Netherlands to litigate in international trade disputes in the English language. To this end, on 16 December 2016 a draft bill was submitted for public consultation. The proposal introduces a new international trade chamber of the Court of Amsterdam - the Netherlands Commercial Court ( "NCC") - and of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal - the Netherlands Commercial Court of Appeal ("NCCA") - that may give judgments in English in these disputes. An important condition is that parties must have expressly agreed mutually on this. Please note that there are increased court fees for litigation at the NCC/NCCA.

In short, the draft bill contains the following:

1. In principle, the language of litigation at the NCC / NCCA is English;

2. Litigation at the NCC / NCCA is only open to parties who have expressly agreed thereto, it is an international dispute and the Amsterdam Court is competent to hear the dispute;

3. Limited jurisdiction court cases (‘kantonzaken') are excluded. This means, among other things, that for claims up to EUR 25,000, rental disputes and labor disputes no litigation at the NCC/NCCA is possible;

4. If litigation at the NCC / NCCA is possible, the judge in preliminary relief (‘de voorzieningenrechter') of the Court of Amsterdam is also authorized to those cases in English that have been imposed by law on this judge (such as summary proceedings or the request to grant leave for attachment);

5. In principle, the judgment is in English, except when - at the request of the parties - the proceedings were conducted in the Dutch language or when the judgment follows on a defense that the NCC/NCCA has no competence to hear the case;

6. In order to litigate for the NCC/NCCA you have to pay significant increased court fees.

The proposed court fees for cases presented to the NCC and the NCCA is EUR 15,000 respectively EUR 20,000 for both non-natural persons (such as companies) and natural persons. For proceedings before the judge, as mentioned above under 4., the court fee in the first instance shall be EUR 7,500 and in appeal shall be EUR 10,000 for non-natural persons and natural persons. These are considerably higher than for ordinary legal proceedings in the Dutch language.

Please note that the draft bill is currently in public consultation. That means that (the contents of) this draft bill may be changed. The term to react on this consultation ends on 1 February 2017.

Would you like more information or would like further advice, please contact mr. Philip ter Burg (attorney-at-law) and / or mr. drs. Ruud Brunninkhuis (attorney-at-law).