Litigation and Arbitration in Greenland and Dispute Resolution Under the Greenlandic Standard Licences

Abstract

Enterprises doing business in Greenland will become subject to Danish and Greenlandic jurisdiction. Therefore, it becomes pertinent for them to have some knowledge about the civil justice system in Greenland and the possibilities to escape this jurisdiction, either by selecting a different forum (choice of court agreement) or by submitting the dispute to arbitration. For enterprises obtaining licences from the Greenlandic Government, this can raise certain constitutional issues. This chapter provides an overview of the civil justice system in Greenland and its regulation of arbitration, which is not based on the UNCITRAL model law, and analyses to what extent private enterprises and the Greenlandic Government can escape Danish–Greenlandic jurisdiction by agreement, opting for either a court in another jurisdiction (choice of court agreement) or arbitration. Against this background, the legal effects of the dispute resolution clauses in the Greenlandic standard licences, which are based on a bifurcated jurisdiction between the Danish–Greenlandic courts and arbitration, are analysed.