A baseline everyone can refer to
Proceedings before the NCC are governed by the NCC Rules of Procedure. There are two editions:
The NCC Rules, in authentic English and Dutch versions, outline the main procedure and practice rules and reflect global best practices (such as the IBA Rules) and many Civil Procedure Code provisions, to create a baseline that judges, lawyers and parties can easily refer to.
Dutch law practitioners are invited to use the Glossary of Dutch procedural terminology
(pdf, 375 KB) to promote consistent standard terminology for Dutch procedural concepts.
Two versions of the Dutch Code of Civil Procedure are in force. The first governs digital proceedings (referred to as “KEI”). The second governs non-digital proceedings. The NCC applies
the second version (for non-digital proceedings), as in all other ordinary litigation in the Netherlands not subject to the KEI version. The NCC Rules (January 2021 text) have been updated accordingly. As a result, the Addendum to the NCC Rules (January 2019 text) has been deleted.
An English-language version of selected sections of the Code of Civil Procedure is available at
Boom Publishers (boomdenhaag.nl) (“Code of Civil Procedure - Selected Sections and the NCC Rules”). The English text is, however, based on the Code of Civil Procedure as amended by the KEI legislation. The English text should therefore, at this stage, be read together with the Addendum to the NCC Rules.
Substantive law
The applicable substantive law is determined by reference to the rules of Dutch private international law. For substantive law, 'Warendorf Dutch Civil and Commercial Law Legislation' (H. Warendorf et al. (eds.), Deventer, Wolters Kluwer) is a source for English-language terminology.
