Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Singapore’s new international commercial court is launched

08 Jan 2015, 10:00 am

Eleven international judges have been appointed to the newly-launched Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), which is the first of its kind in Asia to cater to foreign parties and foreign laws.

The SICC, formally established on 5 January, is intended to address the increase in international commercial litigation work arising from the growth in cross-border trade and investment in Asia.

Chen Han Toh of Pinsent Masons MPillay, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: “The SICC's establishment now puts at the disposal of businesses everywhere a truly international judicial system the quality, integrity and efficiency of which is second to none. It is a mode of dispute resolution that they should not ignore.”

Singapore’s Ministry of Law said the SICC will hear international commercial disputes including those governed by foreign law. The SICC will be a division of the Singapore High Court, which means that SICC judgments could be enforced as judgments of the Supreme Court of Singapore, the ministry said.

The SICC will also offer the flexibility for parties to seek leave of court to apply “alternative rules of evidence” which the parties “may be more familiar with”. There would also be the option for parties to appoint foreign-qualified lawyers to represent them in court in accordance with the Rules of Court and a new ‘Part IVB’ of Singapore’s Legal Profession Act.

“The circumstances under which a foreign-qualified lawyer may appear in the SICC, namely, cases with no substantial connection to Singapore, or to address the court on matters of foreign law, will be set out in subsidiary legislation,” the law ministry said.

The creation of the SICC as a division of the High Court was recommended in November 2013 by the ‘SICC Committee’, which was co-chaired by the then Justice V K Rajah and senior minister of state for law Indranee Rajah.

Singapore’s attorney-general V K Rajah said at a ceremony marking the opening of the 2015 legal year that the SICC “will further strengthen Singapore’s position as a legal services hub in Asia”.