On Monday, 2 June 2025, the 184th edition of the Monday Seminar Series ‘Aktuelle Probleme des Wirtschaftsprivatrechts’ took place at the Institute for Business Law at the University of Innsbruck, hosted by Prof Dr Susanne Augenhofer, LL M (Yale), Prof Dr Alexander Schopper and Prof Dr Julia Told. In her lecture on ‘Die Beilegung internationaler Streitigkeiten: International commercial Courts als relevante Alternative zu internationalen Schiedsgerichten?', the lecturer, Prof Dr Gisela Rühl, examines the question of whether international arbitral tribunals (and foreign courts) are facing serious competition from Germany as a result of the International Commercial Courts introduced as part of the Justizstandort-Stärkungsgesetz.
Rühl began by outlining the initial situation of falling numbers of incoming cases in the civil justice system and the reasons for this decline. In particular, the German Justizstandort-Stärkungsgesetz is intended to improve the procedural framework conditions and make Germany more attractive as a centre of justice. Rühl diagnoses that the innovations introduced by the Justizstandort-Stärkungsgesetz are basically suitable for making Germany more attractive. However, the lecturer places some limitations on this assessment. Firstly, there is no obligation for the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) to conduct proceedings in English, which would create the risk of a costly language requirement. Furthermore, Rühl criticizes the introduction of a limit on the amount in dispute. The speaker placed particular emphasis on the lack of attractiveness of German law, which would not be improved by Justizstandort-Stärkungsgesetz. A look at other countries also shows that International Commercial Courts have only had limited success. Overall, the speaker concluded that the changes made were an overdue reform, but that they only will have a limited effect on international disputes.
The subsequent discussion centered on the reasons for the decline in case numbers at German and Austrian courts. Once again, the Monday Seminar Series provided a valuable platform for professional exchange on current problems in business law. We would like to thank Prof Dr Rühl for her exciting lecture and the interesting discussions and look forward to inviting you to our next Monday Seminar by Prof Dr Ferdinand Kerschner from the Johannes Kepler University Linz on Monday, 23 June 2025 at 6:30 PM on the topic of ‘Rückwidmung von Bauland: ZUlässigkeit, Entschädigung und Haftung.
Further information here.
