English-speaking courts to be launched across Europe
The number of international English-speaking courts in the main European jurisdictions is likely to rise post-Brexit, with projects currently underway in Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
The Netherlands Commercial Court, a specialist international court using the English language, is due to open this year. The German government announced plans last year to launch an English-speaking court in Frankfurt.
In February, the French government opened an English-speaking division of the Paris Court of Appeal, with the French justice minister Nicole Belloubet stating at the time that the London courts could be ‘replaced by other European jurisdictions’. Unlike its Belgian, German and Dutch counterparts, the Paris court can make decisions based on English law.
The Belgian government aims to open the Brussels International Business Court (BIBC) by 2020. It will hear cross-border commercial disputes and will be comprised of professional judges and lay judges, who will be selected by national and international legal experts and called on an ad hoc basis.
‘Following the national and international economic and political developments of the year 2017—including Brexit—the Belgian government sensed the need to create a specialised court capable of hearing cross-border commercial disputes,’ said Hakim Boularbah, partner, and Sarah Compagnion, associate, at Belgian firm Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick, in an interview with LexisNexis Legal Analysis last week.
‘The government observed that despite the role played by Brussels in the European and international scene as a host to many international and European institutions and companies, those wishing to appear before an English-speaking state court in Belgium, and not resort to arbitration, had no choice but to have their legal disputes decided abroad.’
There will be no appeal process, and disputes will be determined on the basis of Belgian private international law. Procedural rules will be based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.
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