Law 69(I)/2022 establishes a Commercial Court and an Admiralty Court, a two million euro threshold with three exceptions, and a power to hear the case in English.
Cyprus has legislated for two specialist first instance courts: a Commercial Court and an Admiralty Court. The instrument is the Establishment and Operation of a Commercial Court and Admiralty Court Law of 2022, Law 69(I)/2022, and it does considerably more than rename an existing list.
For a business with a Cyprus dispute the practical questions are narrow: what gets in, who decides how much is really at stake, and in what language the case is heard. The Law answers all three.
What gets in, and the number that decides it
Section 3(1)(a) establishes the Commercial Court with jurisdiction to hear and decide at first instance any commercial dispute where the amount in dispute or the value of the subject matter exceeds two million euro. Three categories are lifted out of that threshold and belong to the Court whatever the figure: competition damages actions, intellectual property matters under the Intellectual Property Law and the Patents Law, and arbitration matters.
Section 3(1)(b) allows the Supreme Court to vary the threshold by procedural rule, upwards. It also settles how the figure is measured, and this is the part that decides forum in practice. The amount is what is actually in dispute between the parties, as disclosed in the pleadings, or admitted by them at any stage, or determined by the Commercial Court on an application, regardless of what the claim itself asks for. Interest payable on the sum in dispute is left out of the calculation. Where the Court concludes, after hearing the parties, that the true amount is below two million euro, it may refer the case to the District Court, and the date of filing in the Commercial Court is treated as the date of filing.
Two consequences follow for anyone drafting a claim. Pleading a large figure does not secure the forum, and admitting a large figure may hand it over.
The thirteen categories
Section 2 defines a commercial dispute as one arising out of or relating to one or more of: a business document or contract; the purchase, sale, import or export of goods; carriage of goods by land, air or pipeline; the exploitation of oil, natural gas or other natural resources; insurance and reinsurance; the operation of markets or the exchange of shares, units or other financial or investment instruments or goods; the supply of services, excluding medical, quasi medical and dental services and anything supplied under a contract of employment; the manufacture of vehicles; commercial agency; competition damages actions; disputes between shareholders of entities supervised by a supervisory authority in the Republic; intellectual property and related rights under the Intellectual Property Law and the Patents Law; and arbitration matters.
Two things are excluded on the face of the definition: a claim or counterclaim for damages for personal injuries, and a claim, counterclaim or registration of an arbitral award relating to banking or financial matters.
The language provision
Section 15 is the provision most likely to matter to a client who is not Cypriot. Subject to Article 3.4 of the Constitution, a judge of the Commercial Court may, where the interest of justice requires it, permit the proceedings to be conducted and the documents to be filed in English, on the application of one of the parties, and in that case designates English as the language in which the proceedings are conducted and in which the judgment is delivered.
Section 29 gives the Admiralty Court the same power in the same terms.
That is a decision for the judge rather than a choice for the parties, and it is made on the interest of justice rather than on convenience. But a foreign party has an application to make, and the answer can be that the whole case, judgment included, proceeds in English.
The Admiralty Court
Section 18 establishes an Admiralty Court with exclusive first instance jurisdiction over any admiralty matter, constituted by up to two judges appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council. Section 19 provides that a claim in personam may be brought before it in respect of all admiralty matters.
The definition of an admiralty matter in section 2 covers, regardless of amount, claims about the possession or ownership of a ship or a share in one, disputes between co-owners about possession, employment or earnings, with power in the Court to settle any outstanding claim between them and to order the ship or a share in it to be sold, and claims for damage, loss of life or personal injury arising out of a collision, out of a manoeuvre performed or omitted, or out of a failure to comply with the collision regulations.
Moving a case between the two
Section 13 works in both directions. A party whose case falls within the Commercial Court's territorial competence may apply to the Commercial Court, in a pending commercial dispute whose hearing has not begun, to have the case transferred to the District Court; or to the District Court, in a pending case concerning a commercial dispute whose hearing has not begun, to have it transferred to the Commercial Court. Each judge of the Commercial Court also has power to refer a case to the District Court of the place where it belongs.
The condition on both routes is the same: the hearing must not have begun.
What this means in practice
The forum question is now a drafting question. Where the sum genuinely in issue is near two million euro, what the pleadings say is in dispute decides which court hears the case, because that is what section 3(1)(b) measures. That has to be settled before the claim is issued rather than argued afterwards.
An arbitration application does not need a large sum. Arbitration matters are one of the three categories that reach the Commercial Court regardless of value, so the specialist forum is available for an application about an arbitration however modest the underlying claim.
A foreign party has a language application to make. It is worth raising early, because section 15 speaks of the proceedings and the documents, and a case that has already been pleaded in Greek has less to gain from it.
Check where jurisdiction actually sits before filing. By section 32, the Law came into force on publication, but the provisions of section 3 that give the Commercial Court concurrent jurisdiction with the District Court, and sections 11, 12 and 13, take effect from the date the Supreme Court publishes a notice in the Official Gazette that the Commercial Court is constituted and ready to operate; sections 18, 19 and 27 depend on the equivalent notice for the Admiralty Court. Section 33 keeps first instance jurisdiction over commercial disputes and admiralty matters with the District Court until those notices are published. Pending commercial disputes whose hearing has not begun may then be transferred on the parties' application, while a part heard case stays where it is and is finished there.
The position therefore turns on a published notice rather than on the date of the Law, and it is confirmed before proceedings are issued rather than assumed.
Questions we are asked
What makes a dispute commercial enough for the Commercial Court?
Two things, and they are separate. The subject matter has to fall within the definition of commercial dispute in section 2 of Law 69(I)/2022, which lists thirteen categories including a business document or contract, the sale, purchase, import or export of goods, carriage by land, air or pipeline, the exploitation of oil, gas or other natural resources, insurance and reinsurance, markets and exchanges, the supply of services, vehicle manufacture, commercial agency, competition damages actions, shareholder disputes in supervised entities, intellectual property, and arbitration. And the amount actually in dispute has to exceed two million euro, except in three of those categories where value does not matter at all.
Which disputes go there regardless of value?
Three. Competition damages actions under the Actions for Damages for Infringements of Competition Law, matters of copyright and related rights under the Intellectual Property Law and the Patents Law, and arbitration matters. Section 3(1)(a) of Law 69(I)/2022 carves those out of the two million euro threshold, so an arbitration application belongs to the Commercial Court whatever the sum at stake.
Is the two million measured on what I claim?
No, and this is the provision most likely to surprise. Section 3(1)(b) says the amount is what is genuinely in dispute between the parties, as it appears from the pleadings, or as admitted at any stage, or as determined by the Commercial Court on an application, regardless of what the claim asks for. Interest is left out of the calculation. If the Court concludes the real figure is below two million it can refer the case to the District Court, and the date of filing in the Commercial Court is kept.
Can a Cyprus court really hear my case in English?
Section 15 allows it. Subject to Article 3.4 of the Constitution, a judge of the Commercial Court may, where the interest of justice requires, permit the proceedings to be conducted and the documents to be filed in English on the application of a party, and then designates English as the language of the proceedings and of the judgment. Section 29 gives the Admiralty Court the same power. It is a decision for the judge on the facts, not an election by the parties, but it exists.
What is excluded from the definition altogether?
A claim or counterclaim for damages for personal injuries, and a claim, counterclaim or registration of an arbitral award concerning banking or financial matters. Both are excluded on the face of the definition in section 2, so neither reaches the Commercial Court by that route however large it is.
Sources
This article is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Klitos Platis
Advocate, Partner
Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Nicosia · Published 23 August 2026
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