The Court of Arbitration of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce

Following agreement of an arbitration clause, the parties can obtain a decision in a single court instance and can use experts whom they themselves have chosen as arbitrators. This means that even difficult disputes can be concluded expertly and in the shortest possible time.

In terms of costs, arbitration proceedings are generally more economical than proceedings taken through several instances before the public courts. Revocation of arbitration rulings is essentially only possible if grave breaches of procedure have occurred. Arbitration rulings are enforceable following an order of enforcement by the responsible intermediate court of appeal (Oberlandesgericht).

The Court of Arbitration of our Chamber of Commerce has a tradition stretching back over centuries, going back to the roots of self-governance by Hanseatic businessmen. The rules of procedure were completely revised in 2000, and further adapted in 2003 to current developments in national and international law. The procedure is suitable for all commercial disputes and, in principle, also for disputes with or between non-businessmen. Where the value of the dispute is less than EUR 25,000.00, generally a single arbitrator will decide. If the parties cannot agree on the person of this single arbitrator, this person shall be appointed by our Chamber of Commerce. If the value of the dispute is above this, a panel of three arbitrators shall reach the decision. For this, the parties each appoint one arbitrator. These in turn then agree on the person of the chairman. Here, too, in the event in problems in reaching agreement, a neutral appointment can be undertaken by our Chamber of Commerce. The anticipated costs of arbitration proceedings can be estimated using our Fee Calculator besides.

The entire proceedings are supported in organisational terms by the business office of our Chamber of Commerce. In addition, a person with legal training in our Chamber of Commerce participates in the negotiations, in an advisory capacity. This ensures that the legal and economic knowledge vested in our Chamber of Commerce is available to the parties and arbitrators at all times.

Hamburg Friendly Arbitration is an ad-hoc arbitration. The parties do not have to follow any institutional Rules but the regulations in the 10th book of the German Code of Cicil Procedure and some extra regulations written down in Article 20 of Local Usage in Commodity Trade in Hamburg (§ 20 der Platzusance für den hamburgischen Warenhandel). The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce does not administrate these proceedings. The Chamber is only in charge if a party does not appoint his/her arbitrator or if the two co-arbitrators fail to appoint an umpiere. In these cases the arbitrator or the umpire will be appointed by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce.