Questions on commercial appeals & cassation

1. 01What is the deadline for appealing a commercial judgment?

   30 days from the date set for delivery of the copy of the judgment. What counts is the date set for delivery, not the day you actually collect it. The period is 10 days for judgments on jurisdiction and in urgent cases. If a judgment decides several claims with different appeal periods, the longest applies.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 79 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Art. 200 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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2. 02What is the deadline for challenging judgments on jurisdiction and in urgent cases?

   10 days from the date set for delivery of the copy of the judgment. The court office forwards such an appeal the day after it is filed, and the appeal circuit decides it within 5 working days of referral. A final judgment on subject-matter or territorial jurisdiction cannot be challenged by any route.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 79 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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3. 03Can a ruling that the court lacks jurisdiction be challenged before the case is decided on the merits?

   Yes. As a rule, rulings made before the merits are decided that do not end the case are challenged together with the judgment on the merits. But Article 74 of the Commercial Courts Law allows an immediate challenge to rulings on jurisdiction, stay of proceedings, whether the claim can be heard, or a plea based on an arbitration clause, and to interim and urgent rulings. The period for challenging a jurisdiction ruling is 10 days from the date set for delivery of its copy.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Arts. 74 and 79 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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4. 04Can merchants agree that the first-instance judgment will be final?

   Yes. The parties may agree, even before the claim is filed, that the first-instance circuit's judgment will be final. The agreement must be in writing and must bind both parties, not just one of them. A party relying on it must raise it before the appeal circuit before making any request, defence or plea of inadmissibility, or in a written memorandum if the appeal is decided without a hearing.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 74 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Arts. 8, 201 and 202 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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5. 05Does filing an appeal suspend enforcement of a judgment that carries provisional enforcement?

   No. Article 74 of the Commercial Courts Law provides that challenging a judgment with provisional enforcement does not suspend its enforcement. One case where the Law does allow a stay is a payment order: the court hearing the debtor's grievance or appeal may, by a reasoned decision, stay its provisional enforcement on request if enforcement threatens serious harm.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Arts. 71 and 74 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Art. 199 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

   Read moreAppealing a judgment: what to review before draftingOpening an enforcement file under the new Enforcement Law: from instrument to attachment

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6. 06Can new documents and defences be filed in a commercial appeal?

   Yes, to the extent the court accepts them. An appeal transfers the case, as it stood before judgment, only for the parts appealed. The court decides it on the basis of what was filed with the first-instance circuit and any new evidence, defences and arguments it accepts. New claims, however, are generally not allowed.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 82 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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7. 07Can a new claim that was not in the original case be added on appeal?

   Generally, no. New claims are not admissible on appeal, and the court rejects them on its own motion. The exception is an increase in compensation, profits or rent falling due after the final submissions, which may be added to the original claim. A party whose new claim is rejected may bring it before the first-instance circuits as a fresh claim.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 82 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Art. 209 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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8. 08Can profits or rent that fell due after the final submissions be claimed on appeal?

   Yes. Any increase in compensation, profits or rent falling due after the final submissions may be added to the original claim on appeal. This is an exception to the ban on new claims in Article 82 of the Commercial Courts Law, so it covers only amounts that fell due after the final submissions, as an addition to the original claim.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 82 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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9. 09Can the respondent file a cross-appeal?

   Yes. Until the pleadings close, the respondent may file a cross-appeal, which follows the main appeal and falls away if the main appeal does. It is filed in a separate memorandum giving its grounds and the particulars required for an appeal.

   SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 83 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Art. 214 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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10. 10What happens if the appellant misses a commercial appeal hearing?

    The appeal may be decided or treated as never filed. The court may decide the appeal if the case is ready for judgment or the respondent asks it to. It may instead adjourn for no more than 30 days; if the appellant is absent again, the court on its own motion treats the appeal as never filed. The judgment under appeal then becomes final.

    SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 84 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Art. 208 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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11. 11If the appeal court overturns a ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction, does it decide the merits itself?

    No. When the appeal circuit overturns a ruling declining jurisdiction, it must send the case back to the circuit that issued it to decide the merits. The same applies when it overturns a ruling that the claim could not be heard, was time-barred, was inadmissible on formal grounds, or was blocked by a preliminary plea. Its ruling is binding on the first-instance circuit.

    SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 85 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Art. 224 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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12. 12Can a commercial appeal judgment be challenged before the Supreme Court?

    Yes, on specific grounds. The commercial circuit of the Supreme Court hears a challenge alleging breach of Sharia or of the laws, error in applying or interpreting them, or departure from a judicial principle set by the Supreme Court; that the judgment was issued by a court lacking jurisdiction or not properly constituted; error in characterising or describing the facts; or that it decided a dispute contrary to an earlier final judgment between the parties. The Supreme Court is not a further stage for rearguing the facts. A cassation request must be filed by a lawyer, and grounds that could have been raised on appeal but were not are not accepted. The Commercial Courts Law sets no cassation deadline of its own, so under its Article 93 the period in the Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts applies: 30 days, or 15 days in urgent matters.

    SourceCommercial Courts Law, Arts. 88 and 93 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Arts. 52, 234 and 235 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts, Art. 194 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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13. 13Does a cassation challenge before the Supreme Court suspend enforcement of a commercial judgment?

    No, not by itself. The Supreme Court may order a stay if one is requested in the cassation filing and it considers that enforcement would have effects that cannot be undone. The request must set out its reasons and the effects of enforcement. If the court decides to stay enforcement, it may require the applicant to provide security.

    SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 89 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Art. 233 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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14. 14Can a petition for reconsideration be filed against a final commercial judgment?

    Yes, in the cases set out in the Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts. They include a judgment based on documents later shown to be forged or on testimony later found to be false; decisive documents the petitioner obtained after the judgment and could not produce before it; fraud by the other party capable of affecting the judgment; and a judgment awarding something not requested or more than was requested. The petition is filed by a lawyer with the court that issued the final judgment, giving the judgment's details, a summary of it and the grounds. Under Article 93 of the Commercial Courts Law, the period in the Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts applies: 30 days, running from a starting point that depends on the ground relied on. Filing it does not suspend enforcement unless the court so orders.

    SourceCommercial Courts Law, Arts. 86, 87 and 93 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Implementing Regulation of the Commercial Courts Law, Arts. 52 and 227 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts, Arts. 200 and 201 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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15. 15Can the same case be filed again after a final judgment?

    No, if the judgment decided the dispute and has the force of res judicata. It is conclusive on what it decided, and the same dispute cannot be reopened between the same parties, in the same capacities, over the same right with the same subject and cause. The court applies this on its own motion. If the parties, their capacities, the subject or the cause differ, res judicata does not bar the claim. A final judgment can be revisited only through the recognised routes of challenge, such as cassation or a petition for reconsideration, where they are available.

    SourceCommercial Courts Law, Art. 77 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)Law of Evidence, Art. 86 (Ministry of Justice legal portal)

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These answers are brief general information. They are no substitute for a review of the facts and documents of a particular matter.