NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Eva Schothorst-Gransier, Claims Made Advocatuur
commercial transactions involving parties from EU member states and other nations, such as the United Kingdom. DCCP Where no international treaty is applicable, the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure (DCCP) determines interna - tional jurisdiction. According to Article 2 of the DCCP, the main rule is that the Dutch court has jurisdiction if the defendant is domiciled or a habitual resident in the Netherlands. The court may also have jurisdiction if jurisdiction has been agreed upon in a contract or if the contract that is the subject of the proceedings had to be performed in the Netherlands (Article 8 of the DCCP). However, if it is truly impossible for the claimant to start legal proceedings outside the Neth - erlands, the Dutch court may also assume jurisdiction, according to the forum of necessity doctrine (Article 9 of the DCCP). Due to the complexity of the above-mentioned leg - islation, careful legal analysis must be carried out to ensure that the claim is brought before the competent court. Neither the Brussels I Recast Regulation nor the DCCP provides a specific basis of jurisdiction or application of the (special) jurisdictional rules with regard to col - lective actions. In a collective action brought by the Diesel Emissions Justice Foundation against car man - ufacturers not based in the Netherlands, the central question was whether the Dutch court had jurisdiction. The Amsterdam Court of Appeal accepted jurisdic - tion regarding aggrieved persons who had bought or leased their vehicle in the Netherlands on the basis of Article 8 sub 1 Brussels I Recast (regarding the Italian car manufacturer) and Article 7 sub 1 DCCP (regarding the US manufacturer). Jurisdiction of the Dutch Court was not accepted regarding aggrieved persons who had bought or leased their vehicle outside the Nether - lands, somewhere in the EU (Court of Appeal Amster - dam 13 August 2024, ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2024:2238). 2.5 Pre-Action Procedures and Requirements for Product Liability Claims There are no specific pre-action procedures and/or requirements for filing a lawsuit for product liability claims in the Netherlands. The only exception is for
collective action (Article 3:305a of the DCC). Failure to comply with these pre-action requirements can make the claim inadmissible. For more detailed information, please see 2.16 Existence of Class Actions, Repre- sentative Proceedings or Co-Ordinated Proceedings in Product Liability Claims . 2.6 Rules for Preservation of Evidence in Product Liability Claims As of 1 January 2025, procedural law in the Nether - lands has been updated to simplify evidential law. This modernisation applies broadly, including to product liability cases. Articles 205 and 206 of the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure (DCCP) introduce the option for sei - zure to preserve evidence. Additionally, if requested by an interested party, the interim relief judge may authorise the preparation of an official report to docu - ment facts that the bailiff has personally observed in a location not accessible to the public. Apart from these procedural changes, one needs to take into account the statutory retention period for technical files, etc. Furthermore, it is advisable to pre - serve a number of products and documents relating to product compliance. 2.7 Rules for Disclosure of Documents in Product Liability Cases The new Dutch procedural legislation has revised the previous disclosure regime outlined in Article 843a of the DCCP. This updated regime is now reflected in Articles 194-195a and 204 of the DCCP. The pri - mary principle of the new regime is that a request for the disclosure of documents, whether made during or before trial, will be granted unless an exception applies. Additionally, disclosure can be requested from another party, even in the absence of a legal relation - ship. The criterion for making a disclosure request is having sufficient interest. Some Dutch authors believe this change has lowered the threshold for requests that previously required a legitimate interest. New Product Liability Directive The new Product Liability Directive 2024/2853 intro - duces a fresh disclosure regime. According to the new PLD, claimants only need to present facts and evidence to support the claim’s plausibility for com - pensation to obtain disclosure of relevant evidence.
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