Dutch procedural law

Pioneering English-language dispute resolution in a civil law jurisdiction.

Content

Dutch Code of Civil Procedure

The proceedings at the Netherlands Commercial Court (NCC) are governed by the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure (DCCP).

Please note: the applicable substantive law is determined by reference to the rules of Dutch private international law. For substantive law, 'Warendorf Dutch Civil and Commercial Law Legislation' (H. Warendorf et al. (eds.), Deventer, Wolters Kluwer) is a source for English-language terminology.

DCCP translation

To assist legal practitioners considering litigation before the NCC, a team consisting of NCC judges, an NCC law clerk, a professional translator and an editor has translated relevant sections of the DCCP into English.

The Third Edition of this translation, updated as of 1 January 2025, is now available. Unlike earlier editions published in hardcopy by Boom/Eleven Publishers (www.boomuitgevers.nl), the Third Edition has been released as a free resource for the legal community.

Download the Third Edition of the DCCP translation (pdf, 2 MB)

The document is in PDF-format and is searchable by using the Ctrl-F command.

The translated sections of the DCCP are presented alongside the original Dutch text. This approach enables practitioners to reference the source material directly and provides insight into the translation process.

Glossary of Procedural Terminology

The NCC also publishes a carefully curated glossary of procedural terms. Practitioners are encouraged to use this glossary when preparing submissions to the NCC.

You can download the NCC Glossary of Procedural Terms here (pdf, 353 KB)

NCC Rules of Procedure

Proceedings before the NCC are governed by the NCC Rules of Procedure. These NCC Rules, in authentic English and Dutch versions, outline the main procedure and practice rules and reflect global best practices (such as the IBA Rules) and many DCCP provisions, to create a baseline that judges, lawyers and parties can easily refer to.

NCC Rules of Procedure (on or after 1 January 2025)

NCC Rules of Procedure (on or after 1 July 2023)

NCC Rules of Procedure (on or after 1 July 2021)

NCC Rules of Procedure (2019 and 2020)

Other rules