A dispute may be settled in court or by arbitration. Arbitration clauses would be common in business to business agreements. Undisputed claims may be quickly settled by a summary procedure.
LITIGATION AND ARBITRATION
Arbitration would be widely used in the commercial market in Denmark. Many business-to-business agreements would include an arbitration clause and would also be common in standard form contracts. Most of the arbitration proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the Danish Arbitration Act and the Danish Institute on Arbitration (Copenhagen Arbitration).
In the event that the parties in dispute have not agreed to settle the matter by way of arbitration, the dispute shall be resolved in court. The court may assist the parties in reaching a settlement of the dispute and may also appoint a mediator. If the parties cannot reach a settlement, the court will resolve the matter.
Arbitration and court proceedings are normally instituted by written submissions from both parties followed by a preliminary hearing. Written preparation of the case may, if necessary, continue after the preliminary hearing. Once the case is prepared, the arbitrators, or the court, will hear the case at a final hearing. The arbitrators, or the court, shall then pass their judgement.
If the case has been tried by the court, the party who is dissatisfied may appeal the judgement. One of the major differences between arbitration and court proceedings is that court proceedings are normally conducted in public, whereas arbitration shall be private. In addition, arbitration will usually provide a quicker and more expedient way of dealing with a dispute than court proceedings, because the parties cannot appeal the decision of the arbitration tribunal.
However, arbitration will be more expensive than a court action, because the parties would be responsible also for the fees of the arbitrators.
All you need to know about doing business in Denmark
