Doing Business in the Netherlands 2012 - American Chamber of ...

24.13 Arbitration
Doing Business in the Netherlands 2012
Parties may also choose to settle their disputes by arbitration, rather
than in court. The Dutch Arbitration Act provides that, if either party
invokes an arbitration agreement, the Dutch court must decide that it
has no jurisdiction over the case. The district court may be competent
to grant provisional relief in summary proceeding even if the parties
concluded an agreement for arbitral summary proceedings if the court
believes that the remedy provided in arbitration is inadequate or that
the relief sought is too urgent.
The best known Dutch arbitration institute is the Netherlands
Arbitration Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam, which has its own arbitration
rules that parties can adopt in their arbitration agreement. The NAI
may appoint the arbitrators, or the parties may do so themselves,
depending on the arbitration agreement. The NAI has a list of
qualified and experienced arbitrators who are often attorneys.
Dutch arbitral decisions can easily be enforced in the Netherlands.
Like many European countries and the United States of America, the
Netherlands is a signatory to the New York Convention on the
recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Thus, arbitral
awards given in the territory of these States can in principle be
enforced in the Netherlands and vice versa.
24.14 Mediation
Mediation as an instrument for dispute resolution is becoming
somewhat more popular in the Netherlands. At the start, mediation
was mainly used in family law cases. Today, though, mediation is
being used with increasing frequency in other types of disputes. The
Dutch courts have even developed an initiative promoting mediation
during pending legal proceedings.
Baker & McKenzie 265