6 - Jurisdiction and Choice of Court Clauses in Favour of International Commercial Courts

Summary

This chapter discusses the jurisdiction provisions of various international commercial courts (ICommCs). The aim is to show, on the basis of examples from Europe and Asia, under which circumstances these courts can be solicited. This contribution does not endeavour to systematically address all existing ICommCs. It puts less emphasis on ICommCs created for special economic zones which are stand-alone courts but focuses instead on the European ICommCs, the SICC and the CICC, which remain international chambers within the ordinary court system, albeit being subject to specific rules or protocols. The latter are more interesting for the purpose of this chapter, as the choice of a particular court division with certain special features is not a common choice of court under private international law rules. The main issues this chapter addresses are choice-of-court agreements, specific agreements on proceedings in English before an ICommC as well as rules permitting a transfer of cases to an ICommC.