NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Yvette Borrius, Emille Buziau, Marit Balkema and Daphne Beunk, Florent B.V.
Netherlands Commercial Court Since 2019, international commercial disputes may be brought before the Netherlands Com- mercial Court (NCC). The NCC is situated as separate chambers within the Amsterdam Dis- trict Court and the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. The NCC is designed to meet the need for effi- cient dispute resolution of international commer- cial 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 law- yers may speak at hearings. The entire proceed- ings, including the judgments, 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 cassa- tion court, which only deals with matters of the application of the law and not with the facts of the specific case. 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 adver- sarial proceedings are, in general, public. Names of private individuals are generally made blank.
Many judgments are made available 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 illuminated in 7. Trials and Hearings . 1.4 Legal Representation in Court In civil and commercial cases, parties must gen- erally 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 subject matters (eg, some family law matters). Under EU Law and in spe- cific circumstances, foreign European lawyers can represent parties in Dutch courts. 2. Litigation Funding 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding Litigation funding by third parties is permitted in the Netherlands both in court and in arbitration procedures. The parties are free to agree on the fees and interest charged for funding. In general, limitations on funding are derived from princi- ples 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 (includ- ing 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 sufficient substantial interest lend themselves
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