Commercial courts in the pipeline to attract more investors

Commercial courts in the pipeline to attract more investors

The Ministry of Justice has set up a commission to look into the formation of commercial courts to build investors’ confidence and attract more foreign investments in Cambodia.

The commission will be headed by the Ministry of Justice’s secretary of state Chiv Songhak, who is also the former president of the Bar Association of Cambodia.

Minister of Justice Keut Rith said yesterday the commission has been entrusted with the task of drafting the necessary documents related to the launch of commercial courts.

“This is a new mechanism that many investors have been waiting for, for a long time,” said Rith.

“The commercial courts will further boost the confidence of investors to do businesses in Cambodia, as in the past, some investors were disappointed by the Cambodian court rulings, which cover all cases, both civil and criminal,” he said.

To set up commercial courts, he added, the commission must study the location, organise human resources, cooperate with the Ministry of Commerce and the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce to select consultants who have knowledge of commercial law, and prepare a budget for the operation of these new courts.

However, Rith did not reveal when the commercial courts will be officially created.

Khan Sereyvuthy, the commercial arbitrator of A&D Law Office, said yesterday that Cambodia still lacked specialised courts, such as the commercial, labour, taxation and bankruptcy courts.

He added that the commercial courts have an important role to play to incentivise foreign investments and to improve investors’ confidence in the Kingdom.

He said the creation of the courts was also part of a promise by Cambodia under World Trade Organization’s commitments since it became a member.

“Some judges are unaware of commercial disputes and criminalise business matters. They did mixed jurisdictions,” he said. Khmer Times