THE ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURTS IN COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT A CASE STUDY FROM UGANDA BY JUSTICE GEOFFREY KIRYABWIRE

INTRODUCTION 1.Over last decade more common law jurisdictions have set up commercial courts 2.Traditionally East Africa had 2 divisions of the High Court Criminal division Civil division

INTRODUCTION 3. Concept of commercial court is not new commercial list in Queens Bench in February 1895 Judge dedicated to hearing commercial cases Still part of the High Court and not separate

RECENT EXAMPLES 1.Republic of Ireland 12 th Jan Ghana 4 th March South Africa (commercial crimes court Pretoria 1999) 4.Lesotho 5.Non Common Law countries Peru Morocco Republic of Serbia

Common characteristics 1.Specialisation 2.Case management system Pre-trial procedures Case tracking ICT Clearly the driving force behind the creation of Commercial Courts is the desire to facilitate the resolution of business/commercial disputes in a quick, efficient and effective manner that ensures economic growth.

HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN UGANDA Justice Platt Commission of inquiry on “delays in The Judicial system”. 2.Constitutional Commercial court (practice) Direction 1996 Legal Notice 5 of 1996

HISTORY OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN UGANDA Paragraph 2 of the Legal Notice states; “…it has been decided to establish, a Commercial Court capable of delivering to the commercial community an efficient, expeditious and cost-effective mode of adjudicating disputes that affect directly and significantly the economic, commercial and financial life in Uganda…”

ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN DEVELOPMENT 1.Creation of an efficient, expeditious and cost effective mechanism of dispute resolution a). The Proactive Judge Para 5 (2) “…The procedure in and progress of a commercial action shall be under the direct control of the commercial Judge who will, to the extent possible, be pro active…”

ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN DEVELOPMENT b). Rigorous case management/scheduling Order 10B Civil Procedure rules Must take into account the use of ADR c). Creation of a multi door court house In house mediation Registrar Mediation pilot project - CADER

ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN DEVELOPMENT d). Commercial court users committee (CCUC) e). Improvement of court room technology f). Construction of a purpose built court house g). Computerised case administration system (CCAS) h). Commercial court law reports

ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN DEVELOPMENT Results of the follow up survey show i) A 64% increase in registered cases ii) A 60% increase in court efficiency (disposal rate) iii) An average case adjournment of iv) A drop in the corruption perception from 27% to 26%. This is a relatively low perception with no actual reported case of corruption.

ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN DEVELOPMENT Results of the follow up survey show “ Best practices have been instituted at the Commercial Court. Cases are handled expeditiously and in a business sensitive manner which has yielded high levels of satisfaction amongst the business community”.

ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN DEVELOPMENT Comments by The Uganda Investment Authority “ The operations of the Commercial Court have had a positive effect on commerce and promotion of business and investment prospects, and have made our work of marketing Uganda as an investment destination easier… Uganda Investment Authority commends the reforms of the Commercial Court…”

ROLE OF COMMERCIAL COURT IN DEVELOPMENT Comments by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) “…In Tanzania and Uganda, Judicial dispute resolution has been streamlined recently and is now more efficient than in many industrialized countries…”

CONCLUSION The role of the commercial courts in commercial development, from the Ugandan perspective, is to deliver to the commercial community an efficient, expeditious and cost effective mode of adjudicating disputes that directly affect the economic, commercial and financial sector in Uganda. The commercial court is constantly trying to be innovative and to adopt best practices to ensure that its objective and role is fulfilled hence contributing to investor confidence, in promoting sound business practices and the resultant economic growth.

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