The Assembly of Kosovo approved Law no. 08/L-015 on the Commercial Court of the Republic of Kosovo (the “Law”), which seeks to improve access to justice for the business community by shortening time in resolving commercial and administrative cases related to economic issues. The Law partially repeals law no. 06/L-054 On Courts, while setting out rules on the establishment, organization and functioning of the Commercial Court in the Republic of Kosovo.
The Law applies to commercial disputes between all legal and natural persons in the Republic of Kosovo, including business organizations as defined in the applicable Law on Business Organizations.
In the framework of the establishment and functioning of a court within which there are two levels of the judiciary, independent of each other, in order to handle lawsuits and complaints in a single forum, the Commercial Court adjudicates matters within its competence in its First Instance Chambers and the Second Instance Chambers.
The First Instance Chambers comprise of:
- Economic Matters Department – attached to which functions the Division responsible for reviewing foreign investor disputes;
- Fiscal Department;
- Administrative Matters Department; and
- General Department.
Further, cases in the First Instance Chambers are reviewed and adjudicated by an individual judge, while Second Instance Chambers review and adjudicate cases in panels composed of 3 (three) judges.
Decisions of the First Instance are equivalent to the decisions of the Basic Court, while the decisions of the Second Instance Chambers are equivalent to the decisions of the Court of Appeals.
The Law provides that the Commercial Court has the power and the exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate in its Chambers of First Instance the following:
- disputes between local and foreign business organizations related to mutual business issues, besides from disputes between private and public legal persons on mutual business issues and other disputes among them;
- all legal remedies, as provided by the applicable law on enforcement procedure, regarding disputes falling under jurisdiction of this Court;
- recognition and enforcement of domestic and international arbitral awards;
- court disputes arising from the Law on Business Organizations;
- reorganization, bankruptcy and termination of business organizations;
- disputes concerning obstruction of possession between business organizations, as well as disputes related to real rights, as defined in the Law on Property and Other Real Rights and the Law on Business Organizations;
- disputes related to the violation of competition, abuse or monopoly and dominant position in the market, as well as monopoly agreements including the assessment of illegality;
- protection of copyright and industrial property, including trademarks, patents, trade secrets and other forms of industrial property as provided in the relevant legislation;
- disputes among aviation companies subject to the Aviation Law, excluding disputes related to passenger rights;
- administrative disputes initiated by business organizations against the final decisions of Tax Authorities, Customs Authorities, Ministry of Finance and any other public body in charge of imposing taxes or other state duties;
- administrative disputes initiated by business organizations against final decisions in administrative proceedings;
- other cases as provided by the law.
The Second Instance Chambers are competent to handle:
- all appeals against the decisions of the Chambers of First Instance within the competencies listed above;
- all appeals against a transfer order, or refusal to transfer, of a case within the first instance departments, which have been filed within the prescribed time limit;
- conflicts of jurisdiction from the Chambers of First Instance, within a period of thirty (30) days;
- other matters as may be provided by law.
The provisions on matters regulated by the Law, take precedence over the Law on Contested Procedure, the Law on Administrative Disputes and the Law on Courts.
Decisions of the Commercial Court are drafted in writing and are binding upon all natural and legal persons. The court shall publish all judgments on their official website, within 60 (sixty) days from the date of issuance of the decision. Upon receipt of notification from the President of the Commercial Court on the functioning of the latter, the current pending cases before the Basic Courts or the Court of Appeal, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Commercial Court, shall be transferred in a timely manner. The Kosovo Judicial Council shall be responsible for issuing guidelines on case transfer procedures and determining the standards on which it shall be assessed whether pending cases are suitable for transfer.
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