NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Yvette Borrius, Christine Vreede, Tiffany Zandbergen and Daphne Beunk, Florent B.V.
1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings In principle, court hearings are public. The court may, under special circumstances, decide to conduct court hearings behind closed doors, for instance when the interests of minors or privacy of parties so requires. Court decisions in adversarial proceedings are, in general, public. Names of private individuals are gen- erally made blank. Many judgments are made avail- able online at the judiciary’s website . Court records, exhibits and other documents belonging to the case file are not disclosed to third parties. This is further In civil and commercial cases, parties must generally be represented by a lawyer admitted to the Dutch Bar Association. Parties may argue their own case in the subdistrict sector and in some other district court sub- ject matters (eg, some family law matters). Under EU Law and in specific circumstances, foreign European lawyers can represent parties in Dutch courts. illuminated in 7. Trials and Hearings . 1.4 Legal Representation in Court Litigation funding by third parties is permitted in the Netherlands both in court and in arbitration proce- dures. The parties are free to agree on the fees and interest charged for funding. In general, limitations on funding are derived from principles of contract law such as contravention of public policy or the principles of reasonableness and fairness. In addition, the Dutch Claim Code, a self-regulatory instrument, provides for best practices in collective redress actions (including use of third-party funding). In such cases, excessive (cost) compensation charged by the litigation funder and/or lack of transparency can be addressed by the court. Recent case law also shows the required degree of independence of the litigation funder. In various class actions, the court ordered such foundations to bring their funding agreements into the proceedings. 2.2 Third-Party Funding: Lawsuits A variety of commercial claims and disputes with suf- ficient substantial interest lend themselves to litigation financing, such as collective actions and mass claims 2. Litigation Funding 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding
rate issues (Enquiry proceedings), or as the appel- late court in certain corporate litigation disputes. On 1 January 2025, the Wagevoe Act came into effect, reshaping shareholders’ disputes ( geschillenregeling ). Claims for forced exit ( uitstootregeling ) or forced buy- out ( uittreedregeling ) are now conducted (in a single instance) at the Enterprise Court (replacing the for- mer system, implying lengthy summons proceedings at district courts). This means that shareholders’ dis- putes are handled in a more efficient manner (in terms of expertise and time), whether or not combined with Enquiry proceedings. The Enterprise Court consists of a panel of five judges, which includes three members of the judiciary and two laypersons with specialist expertise. Netherlands Commercial Court Since 2019, international commercial disputes may be brought before the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC). The NCC is situated as separate chambers within the Amsterdam District Court and the Amster- dam Court of Appeal. The NCC is designed to meet the need for efficient dispute resolution of internation- al commercial matters. An electronic system allows Dutch counsel to initiate actions, check the status and submit and download documents (enabling swift communication and guidance from NCC throughout the process). Involved visiting lawyers may speak at hearings. The entire proceedings, including the judg- ments, are conducted in English before experienced judges. The NCC may assume jurisdiction when: • the Amsterdam District Court or Amsterdam Court of Appeal has jurisdiction; • the parties have expressly agreed in writing that proceedings will be in English before the NCC (the “NCC agreement”); • the action is a civil or commercial matter within the parties’ autonomy; and • the matter concerns an international dispute. The Supreme Court The Supreme Court ( Hoge Raad ) is the final court of appeal. The Supreme Court is a cassation court, which only deals with matters of the application of the law and not with the facts of the specific case.
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