Defining international disputes - Reflections on the Netherlands Commercial Court Proposal

Th e last decade has seen the rise of international commercial courts also known as international business courts in Europe. Apart from the use of English as court language and the adoption of distinct procedural rules, the emerging courts share the aim to solely handle international disputes. Hence, the internationality of the dispute sets the jurisdictional scope of the international commercial courts and draws the line between these and the rest of the domestic courts. Th is article focuses on the upcoming Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC) and discusses the provisions defi ning the international character of a dispute under the respective proposal. First, the NCC internationality criteria are compared to the respective criteria under the Brussels Ibis Regulation and the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. Subsequently, this article zooms in on two internationality criteria, namely the application of foreign law and the use of a foreign language in the contract. In a comparative way, the suitability of these criteria to eff ectively encompass disputes with an international aspect is explored. Th is article concludes highlighting the need for narrow internationality criteria that are aligned with the criteria used under the Brussels Ibis Regulation and the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements so as to safeguard the foreseeability of the NCC’s jurisdiction and square its professed aim to solely handle international disputes.