Tài liệu Services and innovations of major international commercial courts, implications to vietnam

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY DISSERTATION SERVICES AND INNOVATIONS OF MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL COURTS, IMPLICATIONS TO VIETNAM Major: International Trade Policy and Law DANG VAN QUAN Ha Noi - 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY DISSERTATION SERVICES AND INNOVATIONS OF MAJOR INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL COURTS, IMPLICATIONS TO VIETNAM Major: International Trade Policy and Law Full Name: Dang Van Quan SUPERVISOR: A. Prof. HO THUY NGOC Ha Noi - 2019 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the dissertation is my own research. It was written with the thorough guidance of my supervisor - A. Prof. Ho Thuy Ngoc. The research results are independent, faithful and have ever not been disclosed. The data in tables and figures serving for analysis and evaluation were collected, inherited and developed by the writer from different sources (published research of other authors, magazine, website) with clear and respectful citations. The views presented in this thesis are the personal views, and I am solely responsible for any mistake. I will be entirely responsible for the dissertation‟s contents. Hanoi, February 18th 2019 Author Dang Van Quan i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The dissertation has been completed with the great guidance of A. Prof. Ho Thuy Ngoc. I would like to express my sincere thanks for her patience and massive help with reading the whole of the thesis and making valuable comments for my research. By this occasion, I am much grateful to the Department of Graduate Studies and Foreign Trade University - who have always create most favorable conditions for MITPL4 students in completing our study. Thank you so much for their generosity and I owe a debt of gratitude to all helpers. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .....................................................................................v INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................1 1. Rationale .............................................................................................................1 2. Scope of research ................................................................................................2 3. Research questions .............................................................................................3 4. Methodologies ....................................................................................................3 5. Structure of the thesis .........................................................................................3 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................5 1.1 History and ethos of international commercial court distinguished from national courts and international commercial arbitration. ........................................................5 1.2 Missions of international commercial court and recent movements in some countries ....................................................................................................................13 1.3 Vietnamese court system.....................................................................................17 1.3.1 Vietnamese legal corridor ............................................................................17 1.3.2 Remarkable points in the Vietnamese jurisdiction ......................................19 1.3.3 Reviewing the hierarchy of the Vietnamese court system ...........................22 1.3.4 Current services of Vietnamese commercial court ......................................24 CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS .........................................................................................26 2.1 Globalization of the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements .........26 2.2 Challenges need to be resolved by international commercial court ...................32 2.2.1 In general on the world ................................................................................32 2.2.2 In Vietnam....................................................................................................33 2.3 Services and innovations of major international commercial courts ..................35 2.3.1 Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) ....................................40 iii 2.3.2 The Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFCC) ..............44 2.3.3 London Commercial Court (LCC) ...............................................................49 CHAPTER 3: IMPLICATIONS TO VIETNAM .....................................................54 3.1 Building a trustworthy and competent court system ...........................................54 3.1.1 Restructuring the organization of the commercial court system .................55 3.1.2 Consolidating domestic legal framework ....................................................56 3.1.3 Building flexible and attractive mechanisms ...............................................58 a. Emergency proceedings..................................................................................... 58 b. E-filing procedure, joint hearing ....................................................................... 58 c. Combining court proceedings with ADR .......................................................... 59 3.2 Connecting deeply to oversea commercial courts...............................................62 3.2.1 Promoting international legal agreements ...................................................65 3.2.2 Short training exchanges to learn each others .............................................68 3.3 Keeping abreast of international commercial changes .......................................68 CONCLUSION .........................................................................................................70 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................i iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Acronym Explanation 1 SIAC Singapore International Arbitration Center 2 LCC London Commercial Court 3 DIFCC The Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre 4 UAE United Arab Emirates 5 CISG United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (Vienna, 1980) 6 LCIA The London Court of International Arbitration 7 ODR Online Dispute Resolution 8 ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution 9 QMUL Queen Mary University of London 10 SIFoCC Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts 11 VIAC Vietnam International Arbitration Center 12 VMC Vietnam Mediation Center 13 UNCITRAL 14 UNCITRAL Model Law 15 ¶ The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985), with amendments as adopted in 2006 Paragraph v INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale We are in a world of globalization, integration, and cooperation. One issue or one problem nowadays may not be of one country, and it needs more connective solution to resolve, particularly in transnational commercial transactions. The complexity of a cross-border commercial deal is increasing, especially in financial transactions or multi-stakeholder transactions. This trend leads to many changes in the industry of dispute resolution. Basically, there are four kinds to settle a commercial dispute: Negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. Arbitration is a most-used method for many years, 1 about six decades from the promulgation of the New York Convention 1958 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. This method is still prime mechanism and its success is undeniable because of many advantages that it has been enjoyed from the strong legal framework created by the New York Convention 1958. Recently, our world has started switching to use increasingly other kinds, amongst them, using litigation in an international commercial court is remarkable and this created a new trend with opens of new courts around the world. In this context, Vietnam still seems to stand out of the trend, this may be not favorable to the economic and legal integration, or it must have own reasons explaining for its laggard inception. According to rules of major international commercial courts, for examples, London Commercial Court (LCC), Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), The Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFCC), their services and innovations were introduced in compelling menus. They look more various and advanced than those of a national commercial court. Hence, we should conduct a survey from them, make a thorough scrutiny to learn and apply to the model of the Vietnamese court system. All aforementioned reasons and contexts led 1 Pierre A., 2017, the Powers and Duties of an Arbitrator, 1. 1 to a need to write about the topic and this thesis is expected to answer questions relating the future of the international commercial court in Vietnam. 2. Scope of research In this dissertation, I would like to limit its contents as a scope of research, focusing on services and innovations as well as some matters incorporated with international commercial courts on the world and the court system in Vietnam. The thesis will review existing books, papers, literatures, and sometimes it will explore some issues in general of legal study, or about some kinds of dispute resolutions as well as developments of some major international commercial courts. Through these, I am going to suggest some recommendations for Vietnamese court system, in order to become a good partner of other international courts in the near future. Hence, the central objects of the thesis are services and innovations of international commercial courts and other relevant information is to clarify thoroughly their own circumstances and to subject commercial courts to a scrutiny in the relationship and interaction with each other and with national courts. The discussion of international commercial disputes in this research should be distinguished from investor-state investment disputes. As an important legal remedy for foreign investors to protect their interests against national expropriation, the resolution of investor-state investment disputes has a distinctive treaty-based feature, especially bilateral international treaties (BITs). Investor-state investment disputes normally arise between foreign investors and host states, and they do not necessarily involve contractual relations, meanwhile international commercial disputes between equal contracting parties. In addition, unlike commercial disputes which are normally resolved by civil mediation/litigation or arbitration, investorstate investment disputes are normally resolved by administrative litigation at the national level or arbitration at the international level, for example, in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). 2 3. Research questions The thesis will address research questions below: (1) What are services and innovations of major international commercial courts? (2) Whether and to what extent the core principles in the law and practice of major international commercial courts are replicated in Vietnam? What are implications to Vietnam court system? 4. Methodologies This study was conducted using the following methodological approaches. First, method of theoretical examination was primarily employed to examine the historical development and current situation of commercial court system, especially in the context of the new trend on the world. The thesis mainly leans on secondary legal data from some well-known institutes, such as International Chamber of Commerce, Queen Mary University of London. Second, method of conceptual analysis was also utilized to analyze legal rules and point out their strengths and weaknesses in keeping the progress and development of a court. In the legal field, needless to say, opinions of a distinguished jurist or a chief justice are very valuable for referring and considering when we want to make a sound understanding about the matter we are researching. That is why in my thesis I would like to refer to lots of papers from great scholars to make clear for my comments and my conclusions. 5. Structure of the thesis The thesis will focus on examining services and innovations of some major international commercial courts which are its main objects. Apart from the introduction and conclusion sections, the contents of the thesis will be divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 will be dedicated to review existing papers and works of well-known jurists studying on international commercial court, in order to point out deficiencies of arbitration and expectations from users on the mission of international 3 commercial court. In this chapter, recent movements in some countries, remarkable points in jurisdiction and the structure of the Vietnamese court system also will be introduced. Chapter 2 will be principal findings, with three main identifications. First, this chapter will draw out a new trend of development in terms of legal framework which is the globalization of the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. Second, the greatest and pressing challenges that an international commercial court needs to address will be mentioned. Third, the thesis will point out services and innovations of newly established international commercial courts, such as Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) and the Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFCC), or of a long-standing international commercial court, for example London Commercial Court (LCC), highlighting their individual characteristics and the variety in development strategies as well as differently oriented goals. Chapter 3 will set out implications to Vietnam in order to ensure the prospective development for its commercial court system. The implications will be built upon three aspects. In the first place, building a trustworthy and competent court system is the imperative and foremost suggestion. It comprises of consolidating domestic legal framework, restructuring the organization of the commercial court system, and building flexible and attractive mechanisms. In the second place, connecting deeply to oversea commercial courts is the next priority through promoting international legal agreements and short training exchanges between international commercial courts. Finally, the Vietnamese commercial court system can not stand out of changes on the world, so keeping abreast of international commercial changes is the third proposal which will be the last one in this chapter. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Definitions of services and innovations of international commercial court: According to the Cambridge‟s Dictionary, service is “business activity that involves doing things for customers rather than producing goods”, or “a single act of doing something for a customer”, or “the way that employees of a business, store, etc. deal with customers, especially how quickly and effectively they do this”2. In the Oxford‟s Dictionary, service is “assistance or advice given to customers during and after the sale of goods”3. Therefore, we can define in our context that “service” is a concept being used to talk about an act or a way of doing something for clients emphasized on how quickly and effectively. As to innovation, according to the Cambridge‟s Dictionary, innovation is “a new idea or method, or the use of new ideas and methods”4. Now we turn back to the main parts of the literature review. 1.1 History and ethos of international commercial court distinguished from national courts and international commercial arbitration. There are a number of researches and papers written in English. The first one is the book “The Practice and Procedure of The Commercial Court, Sixth Edition” author Sir Anthony Colman, Victor Lyon, and Philippa Hopkins. This book summarized the history of commercial court and showed that the first commercial court in the world was created in 1895 in England.5 In addition, there are more papers written by chiefs of justice in Singapore, Australia, France, Netherlands, etc. For example, Chief Justice of Singapore International Commercial Court, Mr. Sundaresh Menon with his paper “International Commercial Courts: Towards a Transnational System of Dispute Resolution” as an opening lecture for the Dubai Courts Lecture Series 2015, he analyzed the vital changes of our world from sovereignty and legal equality of states with economic and political boundaries between jurisdictions to globalization due to the rise of connective technology 2 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/service https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/service4 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/innovation?q=innovations 5 Sir Anthony, C., Victor, L., & Philippa, H., 2017, the Practice and Procedure of the Commercial Court, Sixth Edition, Cambridge, chapter 1, 6-7. 3 5 which has given rise to a corresponding increase in the number of transnational commercial disputes, and how arbitration answered the need for an international commercial dispute resolution system. The Chief pointed out some lessons we may learn from experience of arbitration to build a commercial court system, he described a need for an alternative, and why international commercial courts are well placed to address this need. He also examined the models of SICC, DIFCC; compared them each other and between them with arbitration and with a national court. The paper is very interesting and informative, showing his great view with a macro-vision and persuasive comments. Nevertheless, there are not many comparisons and analyses with regard to services and innovations of SICC and DIFCC. Similar sentiments have been expressed in the lecture “Commercial Justice in the Global Village: The Role of Commercial Courts”,6 by the Chief Justice of England and Wales, Mr. John Thomas who has showed an imperative demand in which commercial courts should adopt a clear strategic approach to how they meet the change of the world because our world has come together and our financial and commercial markets are changing ever more rapidly as a consequence of the digital revolution. He asserted that the basis of that strategic objective must be strengthening the rule of law to resolve individual disputes in a timely, costeffective and just manner, and to guide wider market behavior, focusing on four broad areas – (1) market motivated, but judge led, reform; (2) personnel; (3) process, and (4) product – and commercial courts should take account of and learn from each other, as well as make best use of the possibilities that digital technology is providing. There are many different mechanisms in resolving a transnational commercial dispute on the world, such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, litigation and online dispute resolution (ODR). Negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation are in the group named ADR_ alternative dispute resolution. Sometimes we also find a combination using each type to create a new method, like Arbitration- 6 John, Th., 2016, Commercial Justice in the Global Village: the Role of Commercial Courts, DIFC Academy of Law lectures, DUBAI. 6 Mediation-Arbitration (for example, in the SIAC- Singapore International Arbitration Center). Arbitration is a process by which parties refer, usually voluntarily, their disputes to an impartial third party, an arbitrator(s), selected by them for a binding decision based on the evidence and arguments to be presented before the arbitration tribunal (a single arbitrator is often used for simpler disputes with smaller claims, while three-person panels are common for complex disputes with larger claims). Arbitration is initiated by any party invoking a pre-dispute agreement to arbitrate, such as an arbitration clause in a contract. It cannot validly occur unless the parties have specifically agreed to use this process to settle their dispute. Arbitration may still be the most widely used Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) technique. Arbitration has taken the lead in international litigation as the principal way to settle international disputes. Since the promulgation of the 1958 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention- The Convention has been ratified by 159 countries around the world and has been described as the single most important pillar for international arbitration)7, there are few contracts in international commercial transactions that do not provide for arbitration as the preferred mode of dispute resolution.8 Now, there are over forty institutions around the world that hold themselves out as being neutral administrators of international arbitration and each has a set of rules. The Global Sales Law survey concluded that “disputes in international trade are, today, primarily a matter for arbitral tribunals”.9 From these said statements, international commercial arbitration seems to be perfect, preeminent and supplies well all the needs of international businesses. Commercial Litigation is the process of taking a legal action regarding business transactions through a commercial court. A business litigation lawyer is often consulted for legal representation and to help settle a dispute. The court will render 7 Status Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958), http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/en/uncitral_texts/arbitration/NYConvention_status.html 8 Pierre A., 2017, the Powers and Duties of an Arbitrator, 1. 9 Benjamin, H., 2017, Conflict of Laws and Arbitral Discretion, Oxford, 9, ¶1.15 7 a judgment to be enforced on the losing party. In this thesis, only international commercial transactions will be mentioned, so the court herein is international commercial court. Most companies doing business internationally are reluctant to enter their customers or partners' courts. They fear corrupt or protective judges. They are unfamiliar with and therefore sceptical of local law, local language and custom. They seek to avoid inconsistent outcomes. While trade and investment were becoming increasingly transnational, and the multinational corporation was developing with an interest in promoting business and profits without regard to national boundaries, national courts, at least from the foreign trader's or investor's point of view, remained resolutely local in outlook. Such assessment of the shortcomings of judicial settlement of commercial disputes by local courts has helped international arbitration to grow in prominence. That is not to say that there are no domestic courts that have managed to overcome this perceived shortcoming and endeared themselves to international litigants. In this regard, one can mention the London Commercial Court. This Court attracts a significant proportion of litigants where one or both parties to the disputes do not have any real or significant connection to the United Kingdom. It is suggested that 80% of the work before the London Commercial Court has, at least, one party who is based outside the jurisdiction.10 There are a number of reasons why this type of national court is preferred to other national courts in resolving international commercial disputes. One of the significant advantages of the London Court is its ability to understand the business and commercial world and London's link to the financial and business community dates back to the 18th century under Lord Mansfield. In the latter half of the eighteenth century, the foundations of mercantile law were laid.11 Trials of commercial actions were frequently held in the Court of King‟s Bench, in the City of London. Lord Mansfield was Chief Justice in 10 New English-Speaking Commercial Court in Paris, https://www.acerislaw.com/new-englishspeaking-commercial-court-in-paris/ 11 Sir Anthony, C., Victor, L., & Philippa, H., 2017, the Practice and Procedure of the Commercial Court, Sixth Edition, Cambridge, Chapter 1, Page 1, ¶1. 8 the 32 years from 1756 to 1788. After the era of Lord Mansfield, there was a strong feeling that the court was not a satisfactory forum for the resolution of commercial disputes. Litigation was regarded as too slow and too expensive. The judges and the juries were unfamiliar with everyday commercial activity. On 24th October 1894 the judges of the Queen‟s Bench Division met and appointed a committee from themselves to consider whether it was possible to establish a Commercial Court to make changes in procedure and administration as they considered necessary for the better administration of justice. In February 1895 the fruits of the committee‟s work emerged in the form of the famous “Notice as to Commercial Causes”. 12 The result of the “Notice as to Commercial Causes” was that the “Commercial Court” was created in 1895. 13, 14 There are, of course, the well-known reasons of judicial independence, respect for rule of law and the commercial friendliness of the English Common Law. This cemented London's place as an attractive venue for international commercial dispute resolution, whether it is litigation or arbitration. Since its inception in 1895, the Commercial Court has been concerned with matters arising in relation to commercial arbitrations held in London and elsewhere in England and Wales. The great majority of commercial arbitrations held in England were either maritime arbitrations or commodity contract arbitrations.15 Other types of arbitrations which from time to time come into the court‟s orbit are harder to classify, and many of the arbitrations which fall to be considered are socalled “ad-hoc” arbitrations which are not administered by a particular arbitral body. The court is very occasionally concerned with international arbitrations in other fields, such as those administered by the London Court of International 12 Sir Anthony, C., Victor, L., & Philippa, H., 2017, the Practice and Procedure of the Commercial Court, Sixth Edition, Cambridge, Chapter 1, Page 6. 13 Sir Anthony, C., Victor, L., & Philippa, H., 2017, the Practice and Procedure of the Commercial Court, Sixth Edition, Cambridge, Chapter 1, Page 7. 14 Sir Anthony, C., Victor, L., & Philippa, H., 2017, the Practice and Procedure of the Commercial Court, Sixth Edition, Cambridge, Chapter 1, Page 8. 15 Sir Anthony, C., Victor, L., & Philippa, H., 2017, the Practice and Procedure of the Commercial Court, Sixth Edition, Cambridge, Chapter 1, Page 289, ¶1. 9 Arbitration or the International Chamber of Commerce, but the rules of such bodies generally exclude or limit rights of recourse to national courts, and so the Commercial Court‟s involvement in these types of dispute is necessarily less frequent. Recently, the court has been called on to review awards made under international investment treaties, and it has been held by the Court of Appeal that it has jurisdiction to do so.16 Now we go together to the definition of international commercial court. After looking for a long time with a search engine on the Internet for possibly acceptable answers, one comes to a conclusion that there has not been a clear definition of “international commercial court”. In my comprehension, international commercial court is a specialized body of a national judiciary based upon hybrid features of a national court and an arbitral tribunal in order to decide mainly international commercial disputes. It is not simply a national court or an arbitral tribunal. International commercial court can draw on the strengths of the foundations of their municipal courts (such as: published judgments, rights of appeal and the availability of joinder), while also incorporating desirable features of arbitration (such as confidentiality). International commercial court‟s rules and procedures cater to commercial disputes involving foreign litigants and cross-border disputes that often have little or no connection to the state within which the court is situated. This can make international commercial courts attractive to parties who find both litigation in national courts and international arbitration unappealing. International commercial courts are inspired in part by the London Commercial Court and have some unique features when compared with domestic courts. The general principle is that foreign lawyers do not have a right of audience in the national courts of other jurisdictions. By contrast, it is much easier for foreign lawyers to represent parties before international commercial courts. In addition, judges may come from different jurisdictions in some international commercial courts (some but not all; for example, Singapore International Commercial Court or Dubai International 16 Sir Anthony, C., Victor, L., & Philippa, H., 2017, the Practice and Procedure of the Commercial Court, Sixth Edition, Cambridge, Chapter 1, Page 290. 10 Financial Center). Their judicial bench includes judges from various foreign jurisdictions. The main difference between international commercial court and international commercial arbitration is the basis for activities of judges and arbitrators. Judges are appointed and paid by the state to render a judgment. On the other hand, the arbitrators‟ activity relies on a very different basis. It relies on the contract accepted by the parties. The parties waive their fundamental rights to go before a state judge. They place their confidence in arbitrators who they chose for the particular case due to their specific skills and experience. As a result, choosing arbitration means choosing a totally different way and arbitral proceedings will therefore also be used and applied in a different manner than court proceedings. Judges and arbitrators are in the same market and supply the same needs but with clearly different services. While arbitrators never interfere in the field reserved for judges, judges may be invited to intervene in the arbitration proceedings. This intervention may occur at three different levels: 17 The first level is at the beginning of or during the arbitration in order to facilitate or to control the functioning of the proceedings. This is a non-exclusive power since the judges are merely invited to intervene and to help the parties and the arbitrations. Therefore, these competences may be attributed to a third party, namely to private institutions such as the SIAC, the LCIA (The London Court of International Arbitration).18 Secondly, once the award has been rendered, the judge may intervene based on recourse for annulment in order to control the award. The control of arbitral awards falls into the exclusive competence of the judges. Under the UNCITRAL Model Law,19 the control of arbitral awards is limited to the constitution and the 17 Baudenbacher, 2010, International Dispute Resolution, Vol 2, Dialogue between Courts in Times of Globalization and Regionalization, German Law Publishers, 98 18 Baudenbacher, 2010, International Dispute Resolution, Vol 2, Dialogue between Courts in Times of Globalization and Regionalization, German Law Publishers, 99 19 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985), with amendments as adopted in 2006 11 competence of the arbitral tribunal, the respect of a few fundamental procedural rights and the control of the content of the award.20 These limitations are perfectly in line with the essence of arbitration. Judges are invited to control the application of the law in the field of arbitration and to control whether the arbitrators have followed the minimal standards required in order to justify the parties‟ waiver of the normal state procedure.21 Thirdly, there is possibility for intervention when the judge is asked to provide a help for the enforcement of an award. The judges are invited to control foreign awards. They will accomplish this task according to the criteria set up by the New York Convention. Those standards are practically the same as in most national legislations, but they have to be applied in an open way and really internationally. On the other hand, compared with the arbitral model there is greater accountability and transparency in the international commercial court‟s model, as it remains firmly underpinned by judicial control. 20 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration 1985, Part two, Page 29-30, ¶21, 26. 21 Baudenbacher, 2010, International Dispute Resolution, Vol 2, Dialogue between Courts in Times of Globalization and Regionalization, German Law Publishers, 100. 12 1.2 Missions of international commercial court and recent movements in some countries There has been research on international commercial court in certain countries as well, for example Australia, or China. Both provided an inside look into commercial court. To begin with, in Australia, the paper “An International Commercial Court for Australia- Looking Beyond the New York Convention” written by the co-author: the Chief Justice of Victoria- Mr. Marilyn Warren, and the Judge in Charge of a Commercial List, the Arbitration List and the Taxation List in the Commercial Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria- Mr. Clyde Croft. They discussed two brief examples of transnational legislation which form an important part of the international legislative architecture, these are the New York Convention 1958 and the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (the Hague Convention), and then considered existing international commercial court models five prime examples of courts which have been described as “international commercial courts”. They are the relatively newly established Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), the Qatar International Court (QIC), and the courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFCC), the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), and a long-standing court- the London Commercial Court (LCC), but the paper focused on the circumstances in which they were established, did not mention much enough about their services. Their aim was to find out the manner in which other international commercial courts have been established and developed, in order to provide useful guidance and issues for consideration in the establishment of an Australian international commercial court. Eventually, they withdrew a conclusion: “The proposal for an international commercial court for Australia cannot be left to the Courts themselves or the legal profession to develop and agitate. The experiences of Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and indeed, London demonstrate that it is vital for there to be government interest and support for such 13