The story so far
In the earlier instalments of this series I set out the fundamentals of the new Commercial Courts – from their advantages, through their relationship with arbitration, to the practical pitfalls in the proceedings:
- Eight advantages of the new Commercial Courts (21 November 2024)
- Update: Commercial Courts vs. arbitration tribunals (17 April 2025)
- Five pitfalls in Commercial Court proceedings (20 November 2025)
This article builds on them and goes one step further: it clarifies which location actually has jurisdiction for which type of dispute.
So what exactly is “commercial”?
The term “Commercial Court” sounds as though it is about trade, but that is misleading, as we will see. “Commercial” is not a fixed legal term; yet within the legal bubble it is understood to mean contractual disputes arising from trade and distribution: the defective packaging machine and avoidance of the contract under the CISG, the collapsed framework agreement under the BGB and HGB, indemnity claims (Ausgleichsanspruch) arising from commercial-agency and authorised-dealer agreements, liability under contract-filling (Lohnabfüllung) or co-packing arrangements. These are the everyday cases of mid-sized manufacturers, dealers and suppliers – and it is against precisely this benchmark that one must measure whether a Commercial Court is the right forum for them at all.
The “Länder” determine jurisdiction themselves
In section 119b(1) GVG (German Courts Constitution Act) the legislator gave the Commercial Courts a basic framework: civil disputes between businesses (Unternehmer, section 14 BGB) with an amount in dispute of at least EUR 500,000, disputes concerning the acquisition of companies or shareholdings, and disputes between a company and members of its management or supervisory board. Under the same provision, however, the jurisdiction of the Commercial Court may be limited to specific subject areas.
Through the enabling provision for a statutory instrument (section 119b(5) GVG), the Land governments thus determine which matters their Commercial Court actually handles. The result is, frankly, a patchwork: every Land has tailored its Commercial Court differently.
Nine “Länder”, nine different cuts
This is how the focal points of the Commercial Courts established so far are distributed:
- Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart Higher Regional Court): corporate law, acquisition of companies (from a 3% shareholding), disputes with management or supervisory-board members.
- Bavaria (Munich Higher Regional Court): supply-chain disputes and disputes with management or supervisory-board members.
- Berlin (Kammergericht): construction and architects’ law.
- Bremen (Bremen Higher Regional Court): freight, forwarding and warehousing business and maritime trade; in addition hydrogen, civil aviation and space technologies.
- Hamburg (Hamburg Higher Regional Court): civil disputes between businesses (without any subject-matter limitation); Commercial Chambers, among other things, for commercial matters (section 95 GVG), freight, forwarding and warehousing law, and IT and insolvency law.
- Hesse (Frankfurt Higher Regional Court): Civil disputes between business owners (with no restriction as to subject matter); Commercial Chambers, amongst other things, for commercial matters (Section 95 of the German Court Organisation Act (GVG)), freight, freight forwarding and warehousing law, IT and insolvency law; according to the website, in particular commercial law, business acquisitions/M&A, directors’ liability and banking law
- Lower Saxony (Celle Higher Regional Court): Lower Saxony (Celle Higher Regional Court): According to the Commercial Court’s website, it has jurisdiction over construction and company law; however, on closer inspection, the state regulation does not contain any restrictions.
- North Rhine-Westphalia (Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court): corporate law and M&A, D&O insurance, construction and architects’ law.
- Saxony (Dresden Higher Regional Court): commercial real-estate lease and tenancy law, corporate law, banking business.
The dominant areas are corporate law and M&A, construction, banking, insurance and real-estate law. Trade- and distribution-law subject areas appear expressly only in the regulations on the Hessian Commercial Court.
Only four Commercial Courts for genuine commercial cases
On closer inspection, however, three Commercial Courts do take on “commercial” cases – in different ways, but with the same result:
Hamburg (Hamburg Higher Regional Court): Hamburg has deliberately imposed no subject-matter limitation on its Commercial Court. It has jurisdiction over civil disputes between businesses (section 14 BGB) as such – and therefore also over disputes concerning defects and warranty under sales contracts, commercial agents and supply. In support, the Commercial Chambers at the Regional Court are expressly responsible for commercial matters (section 95 GVG), for freight, forwarding and warehousing law and for IT and insolvency law.
Hesse (Frankfurt Higher Regional Court): Hesse is the only Land that expressly opens its Commercial Court to commercial matters, by reference to section 95(1) no. 1 GVG. This makes Frankfurt the location whose Commercial Court comes closest to also being a specialised court for “commercial” disputes.
Bavaria (Munich Higher Regional Court): Munich is a special case. Under section 1a GZVJu (the Bavarian Commercial Court regulation), the Commercial Court has jurisdiction over “supply-chain disputes”, which are then defined as “disputes between the manufacturer of a physical end product and its direct or indirect suppliers, and between the suppliers among themselves”. Whether a dispute arising from a pure machine delivery falls within this is doubtful; the commercial agent’s indemnity (Ausgleichsanspruch) is in any event not covered.
At all four locations the EUR 500,000 threshold applies, and the Commercial Court only has jurisdiction if the parties agree to it or submit to it without objection (rügelose Einlassung). The other five Länder, by contrast, have tailored their Commercial Courts to corporate law and M&A (Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony), to construction and architects’ law (Berlin) or to narrow technology and logistics niches (Bremen: freight and maritime trade, hydrogen, aviation and space) – for the classic commercial case they are not open.
Conclusion
Anyone wishing to take advantage of a Commercial Court for disputes relating to commercial and distribution law must choose the correct jurisdiction and consider the choice of venue at an early stage. In practice, only three or four locations come into consideration as a forum: Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Hesse (which have jurisdiction over all types of commercial disputes), Hesse (specifically for commercial matters under Section 95 of the German Court Organisation Act (GVG)) and – subject to certain restrictions – general jurisdiction, and Bavaria (for supply chain disputes). The crucial decision is not made only once a dispute has arisen, but at the contract drafting stage: a suitable jurisdiction clause determines whether the Commercial Court will have jurisdiction at all.
Key points in brief
- Nine Länder have established Commercial Courts – they determine their jurisdiction themselves under section 119b GVG, with very different scopes.
- For standard commercial cases (sale/warranty, commercial agents, supply and framework contracts), practically the only jurisdictions open are Hamburg, Hesse and Lower Saxony and – to a limited extent – Bavaria.
- Whether the Commercial Court has jurisdiction is decided by the choice-of-court agreement – it belongs in the contract, not only in the litigation.
