International commercial courts as new actors in adjudication business: Collaborators or competitors?

Abstract

International commercial courts are a relatively new phenomenon that changes the configuration of the international adjudication business. As novel players on the dispute resolution scene, these courts challenge the notion of competition between the existing actors in the business. From the perspective of arbitration, international commercial courts tend to be perceived as both collaborators and competitors. Furthermore, various driving forces influenced the creation of these courts, which gave them a hybrid structure and a quite unique institutional appearance. This article examines three prominent courts in three different parts of the world: the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts (DIFCC), the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) and the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC). The aim is to identify the main features of these adjudication actors that operate within three highly commercially relevant geographic regions in order to outline their character and role on the adjudication business stage. Eventually, through these examples this article addresses the puzzling question of competition versus cooperation in contrast to arbitration. Nevertheless, it is still hard to give a definitive answer - it seems too early for a firm prediction regarding the future of these projects. Jurisprudence must be developed in order to comprehensively test the success of international commercial courts