Commercial court launched to deal with business cases
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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - THE Supreme Court yesterday announced the establishment of a commercial court that will hear disputes on business-related cases.
The Honourable Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Hj Kifrawi Dato Paduka Hj Kifli made the announcement during his address to the judiciary, attorney general chambers and legal profession in Brunei.
He said the new commercial court will hear disputes relating to contracts, export and import of goods, insurance and re-insurance, banking and financial services, operation of markets and exchanges and commodities trading.
He said the commercial court will introduce two new procedures which will expedite matters. These are the case management conference and the option of mediation.
He said there’s currently a panel of eight intermediate court judges and identified registrars that will hear commercial cases among other cases.
“It is hoped that this significant number of judges will help expedite the disposal of cases and shorten the ‘queue’ for hearing dates,” he said.
The creation of a commercial court is part of the efforts to improve the efficiency of the court system.
“With the new commercial court, the judiciary will proceed to assess whether the volume of cases will warrant the enhancement of the jurisdiction of the commercial court,” said the Chief Justice.
He said this will help set the direction for the court - which is to deal with cases usually fixed before the High Court.
The Chief Justice said they are planning to assign specialised judges to the commercial court.
He said this approach in dealing with commercial cases is still in its development stage.
“This project will not only test new procedures but will also enable feedback from stakeholders on areas which need to be improved or added,” he said.
Dato Seri Paduka Kifrawi is hoping the commercial court will benefit the Court, the legal fraternity and the wider business community.
