BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Andrew Emery and Mary-Frances Morris, Emery Cooke
1. Dispute Resolution Methods 1.1 Main Dispute Resolution Methods The main dispute resolution methods in the British Virgin Islands are litigation (the jurisdiction has a dedi- cated Commercial Court established in 2009), arbitra- tion (the BVI Arbitration Act is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law and a state-of-the-art BVI International Arbitration Centre (BVIIAC) was opened in 2016), and mediation (Mediation Act 2007). 1.2 Choice of Dispute Resolution Method Litigation remains the most popular form of dispute resolution (figures indicate that there were over 425 new filings in the Commercial Court alone in 2025, in addition to matters that were filed in the Civil Division of the High Court) but an increasing amount of arbi- trations are also taking place. The Commercial Court primarily focuses on: • insolvencies; At the very least the dispute has to have a minimum value of USD500,000 to be heard in the BVI Com- mercial Court. 1.3 Key Dispute Resolution Trends Issues surrounding Russian sanctions continue to arise in BVI litigation. The BVI sanctions regime pro- vides for a general licence for legal practitioners to undertake work for sanctioned entities and individu- als. That regime is monitored on an ongoing basis. In 2025, updates were made that refined enforcement, licensing and compliance expectations, including a major increase in the amount legal practitioners can bill under the general licence (before being required to apply for specific, case-by-case licences). The jurisdiction also saw a growing trend of the courts staying proceedings in favour of arbitration clauses and actively supervising the arbitral process. This has led to a greater interaction between arbitration and insolvency. The BVI court clarified when insolvency remedies can proceed despite arbitration clauses, reflecting a growing overlap. The court has held that • shareholder disputes; • fraud and asset tracing; • commercial contracts; and • trust litigation.
a creditors’ winding-up petition on the insolvency ground is not an “action” within the meaning of the rel- evant statute such that the mandatory stay provisions do not apply to creditors’ liquidation applications. 2. Litigation 2.1 Limitation Periods Limitation periods in the BVI as follows. • Contract claims – six years from the date of the breach. • Tort claims – six years from the date damage is suffered. • Deeds – 12 years. • To enforce a judgment debt – 12 years from the date it became enforceable. • Fraudulent beaches of trusts or trustee’s conver- sion of property – no limitation period. • All other actions for breach of trust or recovery of trust property – six years from the date the cause of action accrued. 2.2 Court Structure The British Virgin Islands are a member state of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC). For civil disputes, matters are commenced in the High Court of the ECSC which has two divisions: the High Court (Civil Division) and the High Court (Commercial Divi- sion). Matters over USD500,000 in value are assigned to the Commercial Division once the legal practitioner for the Claimant makes the relevant declaration of val- ue. Matters from either Division are appealed to the ECSC Court of Appeal, with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council being the final court of appeal for all disputes. 2.3 Pre-Action Conduct Up until 2023 there was no formal pre-action proto- col. However, Practice Direction 17 No 2 of 2023 set out steps that the court will expect to see the par- ties having taken before issuing proceedings in cer- tain matters. These include exchange of information before filing proceedings in order to encourage early settlements and in order to properly case manage any ensuing litigation. Specific protocols were introduced for:
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