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Time Taken for Disposition of Commercial Disputes in the Netherlands: Why official court statistics underestimate the problem of the long and unpredictable duration of court procedures Cover

Time Taken for Disposition of Commercial Disputes in the Netherlands: Why official court statistics underestimate the problem of the long and unpredictable duration of court procedures

Utrecht Law Review
Volume 20 (2024): Issue 1
By: ,   and    
Open Access
|May 2024
Figures & tables

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Duration commercial cases in days, Netherlands, 2018.

SOURCETYPE OF DISPUTEMEAN AND SPREADFIRST INSTANCEAPPEAL
CEPEJAll litigious casesMean210 daysn.a.
Council for the judiciarySmall claims department (<25,000 euro)Mean49 daysn.a.
Spread: % resolved within 6 months72%
Spread: % resolved within 1 year93%
Commercial department (>25,000 euro)Mean266 days462 days
Spread: % resolved within 1 year62%39%
Spread: % resolved within 2 years90%78%

[i] Source: CEPEJ 2022, p. 126 and Netherlands Council for the judiciary 2020, pp. 63–65.

Table 2

The Netherlands: percentage of civil and commercial cases at first instance that is resolved within the internal standard for the time to disposition in 2021.

TYPE OF CASEINTERNAL STANDARDPERCENTAGE
Small claims, default cases14 days75%
Commercial claims, default cases42 days75%
Small claims, contested cases140 days43%
Commercial department, contested cases, single judge252 days38%
Commercial department, contested cases, panel of three judges280 days11%

[i] Source: 2021 Annual Report Judiciary (Jaarverslag Rechtspraak 2021, Table 10).

Table 3

Volume and duration in days of commercial cases in the Netherlands’ courts, average per year of 2016, 2017 and 2018.

AMOUNT OF THE CLAIM IN EURFIRST INSTANCEAPPEAL
VOLUMETIMEVOLUMETIME
0 < c < 1,000268,5002033386
1,000 ≤ c < 10,00086,45052746432
10,000 ≤ c < 100,00017,3601661.510501
100,000 ≤ c < 1,000,0002,869346688592
1,000,000 ≤ c < 5,000,000388513141661
5,000,000 ≤ c < 10,000,0006552720601
10,000,000 ≤ c < 20,000,0002747812557
20,000,000 ≤ c < 100,000,0002566710629
c ≥ 100,000,000117312764
Claim value undetermined21,9941681,946408
Total397,688455,107474

[i] Source: Costello et al. (2021), based on data provided by the Netherlands National Service Centre for the Judiciary.

Table 4

Recourse to the Supreme Court.

CASSATION PROCEDURESnMEAN DURATION IN DAYS
CASSATIONREFERRALWAITING TIMEADDITIONAL TIME
Appeal to Supreme Court without a referral7568568
Appeal to Supreme Court, and referral to Court of Appeal55804102181,208
Table 5

Breakdown of the adjusted32 disposition time in commercial cases.

PHASEAVERAGE (89 CASES)
FIRST INSTANCECOURTS OF APPEAL
Written arguments185 days216 days
Oral hearing(s)137 days225 days
Interim motions40 days28 days
Evidence54 days36 days
Other67 days47 days
Voluntary dismissalNot applicable29 days
Judgment(s)178 days193 days
Total661 days775 days
Table 6

Duration in days of a procedural phase, if this phase actually occurs.

PHASENUMBERMEANMEDIANST. DEV.
First instance
Written arguments88 cases187 days154 days137 days
Oral hearing76 cases161 days143 days90 days
Interim motion35 cases135 days98 days136 days
Evidence13 cases369 days307 days272 days
Other18 cases330 days134 days559 days
Judgment(s)89 cases178 days127 days174 days
Appeal
Written arguments77 cases250 days196 days212 days
Oral hearing61 cases328 days294 days177 days
Interim motion13 cases199 days168 days131 days
Evidence9 cases358 days301 days251 days
Other14 cases298 days236 days246 days
Voluntary dismissal27 cases97 days70 days125 days
Judgment(s)62 cases260 days197 days209 days
Table 7

Contribution by parties and courts to duration in days of cases that end in a final judgment on appeal (62 cases).

PHASEMEAN FIRST INSTANCEMEAN APPEAL
PARTIESCOURTPARTIESCOURT
Written arguments170 days253 days
Oral hearing33 days98 days73 days218 days
Interim motions23 days23 days17 days17 days
Evidence14 days14 days25 days25 days
Other80 days43 days
Judgment159 days260 days
Total320 days294 days411 days520 days
Percentage of total duration52%48%44%56%
Histogram 1

Registered data spread of duration, number of cases resolved in less than x years.

Table 8

Mean and standard deviation of time taken for disposition in all cases and cases resolved by means of a final judgment on appeal (n = 89 resp. 62).

ALL CASES (n = 89)CASES RESOLVED BY FINAL JUDGMENT (n = 62)
MEANSTAND. DEV.MEANSTAND. DEV.
Registered time taken for disp.1,363 days695 days1,451 days622 days
Adjusted time taken for disp.1,436 days736 days1,547 days668 days
Adj. time incl. other proc.1,675 days909 days1,849 days866 days
Adj. time incl. other proc. and waiting time1,938 days968 days2,101 days948 days
Histogram 2

Adjusted data spread of duration, number of cases resolved in less than x years.

Histogram 3

Adjusted data incl. related litigation spread of duration, number of cases resolved in less than x years.

Histogram 4

Adjusted data incl. related litigation and waiting time spread of duration, number of cases resolved in less than x years.

Annex 1

Time taken for disposition in days in individual cases.38

CASE NO.REGISTERED TIME TAKEN FOR DISP.39ADJUSTED TIME TAKEN FOR DISP.40ADJUSTED DATA INCL. OTHER PROCEEDINGS41ADJ. DATA INCL. OTHER PROC. AND WAITING TIME42
200.178.613/021400296129613219
200.212.102/01599599599823
200.215.519/01742742742888
200.211.100/01734734734945
200.206.585/01805805805958
200.217.447/01798798798993
200.212.017/018408408401014
200.206.028/018688688681084
200.195.686/019949949941112
200.197.925/019109109101112
200.203.552/011029102910291133
200.210.186/019739739731154
200.205.710/019389389381182
200.206.613/011127112711271250
200.199.993/011140114011401258
200.198.427/011071107110711294
200.170.742/011183118311831350
200.176.109/011225122512251392
200.165.702/011246124612461406
200.197.144/011218121812181448
200.183.077/011316131613161455
200.173.943/011302130213021476
200.179.488/011323132313231490
200.191.999/011358135813581491
200.200.529/018058058051511
200.172.915/011323132313231546
200.162.938/011379137913791602
200.201.871/011505150515051700
200.186.830/011596159615961721
200.195.920/011085108516201766
200.171.095/011673167316731803
200.204.729/011071107116621906
200.194.492/011827182718271973
200.182.957/011780141420192179
200.174.752/011540154021032192
200.149.590/011939193919392211
200.165.890/011260126018792237
200.140.750/012191219121912344
200.166.781/012198219821982393
200.184.772/011211121118092425
200.162.953/012387238723872505
200.144.841/011680168023342515
200.142.993/011995199524252571
200.165.824/011463146321452584
200.169.933/012149223322332638
200.181.490/011799179923692725
200.174.006/012709270927092911
200.142.146/012723272327233022
200.135.786/02553199526703054
200.189.787/011372137227733136
200.172.806/011351183330073250
200.192.010/011687168732823456
200.166.123/012555255534233646
200.182.225/011694169437823831
200.191.544/011204120433414049
200.156.084/014144414441444297
200.132.196/021295182718272092
200.127.594/012030203020302148
200.132.293/02819211421142335
200.121.953/021008100821382486
200.023.291/022177307330733752
200.013.263/031645164535004815
200.168.731/011442176417641842
200.226.563/01336336336420
200.227.577/01308308308539
200.242.521/01336336336622,00
200.206.084/01742742742950
200.224.225/01574574574960
200.217.449/019109109101026
200.196.875/018898898891091
200.241.665/011099109910991245
200.230.931/011225122512251274
200.216.616/026306306301334,5
200.177.384/011337133713371490
200.185.508/011428142814281567
200.153.446/011883188318832078
200.213.873/011855185518552155
200.230.799/012002200220022267
200.238.520/012282228222822309
200.190.730/011288128827032919
200.213.286/0194594520373166
200.152.354/014158415841584207
200.234.657/01476476476598
200.230.681/01623623623888
200.232.651/018618618611042
200.223.497/015535535531070
200.229.025/017847847841084
200.235.263/016026026021126
200.184.388/011743203020303002
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36633/ulr.925 | Journal eISSN: 1871-515X
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Language: English
Page range: 44 - 63
Published on: May 31, 2024
Published by: Utrecht University School of Law
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Keywords:
time to disposition,
court delay,
reasonable time,
duration

© 2024 Dewy Pistora, Frans van Dijk, Remme Verkerk, published by Utrecht University School of Law
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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