Success and Impact of International Commercial Courts: A First Assessment

Abstract

During the past two decades a number of jurisdictions have established so-called “international commercial courts”. These courts are located in various regions of the world and have attracted a lot of attention because they enrich the current landscape for the resolution of international disputes. In particular, they present themselves as alternatives to litigation before ordinary courts on the one hand and to international commercial arbitration on the other. However, to this date it remains largely unclear whether these courts have turned out to be a success in practice. It even remains unclear how their success should or could be measured.

In the following article we set out to provide a first – tentative – assessment of how recently established international commercial courts do in practice and whether they have achieved their aims or not. To this end the contribution is organized in four parts. The first part looks at the notion and the concept of international commercial courts (II.). The second part analyses the driving forces and the motivation behind the establishment of international com-mercial courts (III.). The third part highlights – by way of example – some important institu-tional and procedural features of these courts (IV.). The fourth part, finally, offers some thoughts on the success and the impact that international commercial courts have had in practice so far (V.). Specifically, we show that most the newly created courts have not yet managed to convince a large number of business parties to change their dispute resolution habits. International commercial courts, therefore, still have to show whether they have the potential to seriously compete with international commercial arbitration as a means to settle international disputes.

Note:
The article is based on a comparative study that the authors have conducted under the auspices of the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL). The study will be published in early 2024 by Intersentia (M. Yip & G. Rühl (eds.), New International Commercial Courts: A Comparative Perspective, Cambridge, Intersentia: https://www.larcier-intersentia.com/en/new-international-commercial-courts-9781839704277.html).

Keywords: International Commercial Courts; International Commercial Arbitration; International Dispute Resolution; London Commercial Court; Dubai International Financial Centre Courts; Qatar International Financial Centre Courts; Abu Dhabi Global Market Courts; Netherlands International Commercial Court

JEL Classification: K22; K33; K41