Civil jurisdiction of first instance, the Commercial Court is related to the general-court system. By this right, it shall deal with private disputes. The distinctive feature of the commercial jurisdiction is to deal with disputes and claims related to commercial instruments involving anyone, to traders, to trading companies, to members of trading companies, …

Who may seize the Commercial Court ?

Any person who has standing to act and who has a personal interest in the dispute. It is the litigant(s), also named the claimant(s), who shall submit his(their) contentions before the Commercial Court. He (They) may issue proceedings against one or several other litigants called defendants.

How to seize the Commercial Court ?

In contentious matters, the originating application is the one whereby a litigant shall take the initiative of judicial proceedings by submitting his contentions before the Court or the judge. The proceedings may be instituted by four types of processes : substantive summons, summary interlocutory summons, joint petition and voluntary presentation. In order to respect individual rights, law determines the conditions that must be fulfilled respectively in order to be valid and admissible.

The persons concerned by the judgment must be able to enquire into applications to the court and to prepare their case. Consequently, no party may have a determination entered against him without having been heard or called.

In order to guarantee a fair trial to everyone , oral arguments shall be held in public unless otherwise stipulated by legislative provisions or if the judge or the parties consider that the case’s specific circumstances does not require that oral arguments must be made public.