Commercial Chambers (English Text)

As of April 1, 2025, Commercial Chambers have been established at the Regional Court of Berlin II. These chambers allow civil disputes between entrepreneurs in the field of construction and architectural law to be conducted entirely in English—from the filing of the complaint through to the final decision. Appeals follow the general procedural rules via the Commercial Court at the Higher Regional Court (Kammergericht) to the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

• What advantages do the Commercial Chambers offer you?
  • Impartial and independent conflict resolution with high professional specialization on the bench,
  • The possibility of conducting proceedings in English – including the decision and appeal process – with recourse to the German language if necessary (§§ 606 et seq. ZPO n.v., § 184a para. 3 GVG n.v., §§ 1 et seq. CCVO),
  • Efficient and tailored organization of the proceedings through an early organizational hearing to structure the further conduct of the proceedings (§ 612 ZPO n.v., also offered in the form of a video conference (§ 128a ZPO),
  • If necessary, special protection of trade secrets, including the possibility of imposing procedural sanctions (fines up to 100,000.00 € or custodial sanctions for up to six months; § 273a ZPO n.v. in conjunction with §§ 16 et seq. GeschGehG),
  • A simultaneously readable word transcript is possible (§ 613 ZPO n.v.).
• In which areas of law can cases be heard before the Commercial Chambers?

  The possibility to refer to the Commercial Chambers exists in civil disputes between entrepreneurs “from construction and architect contracts as well as from engineering contracts, insofar as they are related to construction services” (§§ 1 f. CCVO) with a value in dispute of more than 5,000.00 €. There is no upper limit for the value in dispute. For disputes with a value of 500,000.00 € or more, parties can choose whether they want to refer to a regional court’s Commercial Chamber or the Commercial Court located at the Court of Appeal.

• In which language are proceedings conducted before the Commercial Chambers?

  Generally, proceedings before the Commercial Chambers are conducted entirely in English. However, the parties are free to present their case in German before the Commercial Chambers, provided they have explicitly or implicitly agreed to do so, or the other party does not object immediately (cf. § 184a para. 3 sentence 2 GVG m.v.).

• The path to the Commercial Chambers

  To be able to litigate before a Commercial Chamber, the parties must first agree on conducting the proceedings in English and inform the court of this agreement when filing the claim. Alternatively, the parties can also agree on English as the language of the proceedings when submitting the statement of claim and the statement of defense. The defendant may also enter into the proceedings in English without raising an objection.

  The available Commercial Chambers are Civil Chamber 9 and Civil Chamber 103b. The latter is also a chamber for commercial matters (so-called KfH). If the parties additionally request a hearing before a chamber for commercial matters (under the provisions of §§ 96 et seq. GVG), this establishes jurisdiction for Civil Chamber 103b. In all other cases, Civil Chamber 9, specialized in contruction law cases, will handle the proceedings.

• What is the difference compared to the International Chambers?

  Since 2021, the Regional Court has offered the possibility of conducting the oral hearing in English. However, since the official language of the court is German, this option has only been available for the oral hearing. In particular, if parties outside the aforementioned areas of law seek to conduct an oral hearing in English, referring to the International Chambers is still an option.