Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh 2026: Jurisdiction, Procedure, Interest and Appeals

Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh: the statute that replaced the 2026 Ordinance

The Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh enacted in April 2026 is the first statute to give business disputes their own courts, their own timetable and their own rules on interest, costs and enforcement. It replaced the Commercial Court Ordinance 2026, which the President promulgated on 1 January 2026, and it is treated as having been in force from that date.[1] [2] For companies, lenders, contractors and foreign investors, it changes where a claim is filed, how fast it must move and what a winning party can recover.

This guide works through the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh section by section: the twenty-four categories of commercial dispute, the courts and appeal benches, pre-suit and court mediation, the suit management hearing and the ninety-day final hearing, summary judgment, interest, costs, asset disclosure, appeals, the transfer of pending cases and the move from Ordinance to Act. It closes with the status of rules and courts as at October 2026 and the practical steps that protect a claimant or a defendant now.

Summary: The Commercial Courts Act 2026 (Act No. 23 of 2026) sends disputes in twenty-four listed business categories, with no minimum claim value, to specialist courts staffed by District and Additional District Judges. It adds a suit management hearing, a cap of three adjournments, a ninety-day final hearing, summary judgment, statutory interest, loser-pays costs, asset disclosure orders and a single sixty-day appeal to the High Court Division.

Key point: Pre-suit mediation under section 7(1) bites only if government rules prescribing the procedure exist when the suit is filed, and never where urgent interim relief is sought. Check the gazette for rules before filing, and plead any urgency expressly.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

From Ordinance to Act: how the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh came into force

The reform began in the Supreme Court. In September 2025 the Supreme Court sent a draft law on specialised commercial courts to the Law Ministry, after regional consultations with judges, lawyers and business bodies during 2025.[6] With Parliament dissolved, the interim government used the President's ordinance-making power under article 93(1) of the Constitution, and the Commercial Court Ordinance 2026 (Ordinance No. 1 of 2026) was promulgated on 1 January 2026 with immediate effect.[2] [3]

On 3 February 2026 the Law and Justice Division, after consulting the Supreme Court, notified 75 Commercial Courts under the Ordinance.[5] After the February 2026 election, the new Parliament passed the Commercial Courts Act 2026, Act No. 23 of 2026, dated 10 April 2026.[1] [7]

What changed between the Ordinance and the Act

Very little. A comparison of the two texts on the official Laws of Bangladesh database shows that the operative provisions of the Act reproduce the Ordinance almost word for word. The substantive differences are two. Section 1(2) of the Act provides that it is deemed to have come into force on 1 January 2026, the date of the Ordinance. Section 19 repeals the Ordinance and saves everything done, every step taken and every proceeding begun under it, treating them as done under the Act.[1] [2]

Commentary on the Ordinance therefore remains broadly accurate, but citations should now refer to the Act. The official name in Bangla is the Banijjik Adalat Ain 2026; English renderings vary between "Commercial Court Act" and "Commercial Courts Act". Section 18 allows the government to publish an authentic English text, and in any conflict the Bangla text prevails.[1] The descriptions in this guide are TRW's own English summaries of the Bangla text.

Why the savings clause matters in practice

Section 19(2) does real work. The 3 February 2026 notification creating the courts, any suits filed or transferred between January and April 2026, and any orders made in that period all continue under the Act without being re-made.[1] [5] The retrospective commencement date closes any gap between the two instruments.

What counts as a commercial dispute under the Act

Section 2 defines a commercial dispute as a dispute arising from one or more of twenty-four listed matters, excluding matters within the original jurisdiction of the High Court Division and matters within the jurisdiction of the Artha Rin Adalat under the Artha Rin Adalat Ain 2003.[1] The list is the starting point for every forum decision under the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh.

Trade, finance and transport

• (1) ordinary transactions of merchants, bankers, financial institutions and traders, including the enforcement and interpretation of mercantile documents;
• (2) export or import of goods or services;
• (3) transactions in aircraft, aircraft engines, aircraft equipment and helicopters, including sale, lease and financing;
• (4) carriage of goods.[1]

Projects, property and services

• (5) construction and infrastructure contracts, and related tenders;
• (6) agreements relating to immovable property used for trade or business;
• (9) management and consultancy agreements;
• (12) subscription and investment agreements relating to the services sector, including outsourcing and financial services;
• (17) contracts for the sale of goods or the provision of services;
• (18) contracts for the use of minerals, gas or other natural resources, such as the electromagnetic spectrum.[1]

Corporate, distribution and agency

• (7) franchising agreements; (8) distribution and licensing agreements;
• (10) joint venture agreements; (11) shareholder agreements;
• (13) commercial agency and mercantile usage; (14) partnership agreements; (20) agency agreements.[1]

Technology, intellectual property, insurance and shipping

• (15) technology development agreements;
• (16) claims or rights under the Trademarks Act 2009, the Copyright Act 2023, the Bangladesh Patent Act 2023, the Bangladesh Industrial Designs Act 2023 and the Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 2013, and claims relating to domain names;
• (19) insurance or reinsurance, or any matter under the Insurance Act 2010;
• (21) contracts for the building, sale or export of ships.[1]

Arbitration, payments and the catch-all

• (22) arbitration agreements, arbitrations, arbitral proceedings and awards under the Arbitration Act 2001;
• (23) transactions under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2024;
• (24) any other commercial dispute that the government or the appropriate authority notifies from time to time.[1]

Two features of the commercial dispute list deserve emphasis. Item 22 brings court applications connected with arbitration, from interim measures to challenges and enforcement, within the Commercial Court where it has territorial jurisdiction, subject to the exclusion of matters within the High Court Division's original jurisdiction, which can include certain applications in international commercial arbitration. Item 24 means the list is not closed: a notification can extend jurisdiction without an amendment to the Act, so the gazette should be checked before any jurisdictional argument is run.

Security and state parties do not change the character of a dispute

An explanation to the definition provides that a commercial dispute is not to be treated as an ordinary dispute merely because immovable property was given as security for recovering property or money, or because one party is the government, a government body, or a private body performing public services.[1] That closes two arguments defendants would otherwise run: that a mortgage-backed claim belongs in the ordinary civil courts, and that a contract with a state entity or utility is not commercial.

No monetary threshold: verified against the text

Nothing in the Act sets a minimum or maximum claim value. Jurisdiction depends on subject matter under section 2 and territory under sections 3 and 4.[1] This was a deliberate departure from the Supreme Court's September 2025 proposal, which reportedly contemplated a Tk 50 lakh value line, with higher-value cases filed in the High Court Division.[6] Under the enacted Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh, a small unpaid supply invoice and a multi-million-dollar construction claim go to the same court if the subject matter qualifies.

The two exclusions and the jurisdictional bar

Bank and financial-institution loan recovery is not a commercial dispute for this purpose and stays with the Artha Rin Adalat, and our guide to the Artha Rin Adalat in Bangladesh covers that regime. Matters within the High Court Division's original jurisdiction, such as company-law proceedings assigned to it, also remain outside. Section 5 adds a general bar: where any law limits or excludes the jurisdiction of the civil courts over a matter, the Commercial Court cannot entertain it either.[1] A banking dispute that is not a loan recovery claim, such as a letter of credit or guarantee dispute between commercial parties, can still fall within item 1.

Court structure: the Commercial Courts and the appeal benches

Section 3 sets up a two-tier structure. The appropriate authority creates as many Commercial Courts as are needed by notification and, after consulting the Supreme Court, fixes and may later vary their territorial jurisdiction. Judges are appointed from District Judges and Additional District Judges of the Bangladesh Judicial Service, with preference for those with higher education in commercial law or experience and training in commercial disputes.[1] Section 4 gives each court jurisdiction over all suits and applications concerning a commercial dispute arising within its territory.

The phrase "appropriate authority" is not defined in the Act. In practice the 3 February 2026 notification was issued by the Law and Justice Division of the Ministry of Law.[5]

Number of courts: 75 across the country

The February 2026 notification created 75 Commercial Courts across all districts and major metropolitan areas. Eleven are metropolitan: three in Dhaka metropolitan area, two in Chattogram metropolitan area and one each for Gazipur, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Barishal. Dhaka district and Chattogram district outside the metropolitan areas each have a separate court.[5] Because the notification was saved by section 19(2), these courts now sit under the Act.[1]

Notifying courts is not the same as running them. The United States' 2026 Investment Climate Statement records that officials were still organising, staffing and determining the extent of the court's future jurisdiction.[10]

Commercial Appeal Benches in the High Court Division

Under section 3(4) the Chief Justice is to constitute one or more Commercial Appeal Benches in the High Court Division to hear appeals and revisions from the Commercial Courts.[1] The Act does not fix their number or composition. The Supreme Court may also issue practice directions under section 12 to fast-track those appeals.

The institutions that matter under the Act are these.

Pre-suit mediation and mediation during the suit

Section 7 is the provision most often misdescribed. Several early summaries reported that pre-suit mediation is mandatory in every case.[12] The text is narrower, and the difference matters to anyone about to file.

Pre-suit mediation depends on rules

Section 7(1) provides that, where a suit does not involve any urgent interim relief, the plaintiff must follow the pre-suit mediation procedure prescribed by government rules, if such rules exist when the suit is filed.[1] The obligation is therefore conditional twice over. It does not apply where urgent interim relief is sought, and it does not apply at all until rules are made. Rules under section 17 are made by the government in consultation with the Supreme Court by gazette notification.[1]

As at October 2026 we have not located any published rules prescribing the pre-suit mediation procedure under the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh. The position can change by a single gazette notification, so it must be checked at the date of filing. A plaintiff who needs an injunction, attachment or other urgent order should say so expressly in the plaint, since that takes the suit outside section 7(1) in any event.

This regime is separate from the compulsory pre-case mediation run by district legal aid offices under the Legal Aid Services Act 2000, which targets listed family, tenancy and property disputes rather than commercial claims. For that regime, see our guide to mediation in Bangladesh.

Mediation during the suit

Under section 7(2), at any stage after filing and before judgment, the court may permit the parties, if both consent, to settle the dispute through mediation, using a panel mediator or, with the parties' agreement and the court's permission, any other suitable mediator. Mediation must finish within thirty days; if it does not, the matter returns to court, which may extend mediation by a further thirty days.[1]

A settlement must be a written agreement signed by every party and the mediator. Once it is placed before the court and the court is satisfied that it does not harm any third party's interest, it is treated as a decree and enforced by the Commercial Court.[1] The qualifications and appointment of panel mediators are left to rules under section 7(5). In the ordinary civil courts, court-annexed mediation runs under section 89A of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, explained in our guide to court-annexed mediation in Bangladesh.[13]

Case management timelines under the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh

Section 9(1) keeps the Code of Civil Procedure as the default procedure unless the Act makes special provision.[1] The special provisions that follow are what make a Commercial Court suit different from an ordinary money suit, and each has a practical consequence.

Pleading interest and early rejection of the plaint

Where the plaintiff claims interest, section 9(2) requires the plaint to give full particulars of the interest claim, in addition to the matters required by Order VII, rule 1 of the Code. Under section 9(3), the court may reject the plaint at any time after filing if satisfied that the suit is not maintainable, after giving the plaintiff, or both parties, an opportunity to be heard.[1] A thin plaint is now a real risk rather than a matter for amendment years later.

The suit management hearing

Section 9(4) requires a suit management hearing on the first hearing date after the written statement is filed. Each side briefly presents its case and, with both sides' lawyers participating, the court:

• identifies the main issues;
• separates issues of fact from issues of law;
• decides whether the suit can be decided on documentary evidence alone;
• decides which issues need oral evidence and which can be proved by documents;
• fixes the initial number of witnesses for each party; and
• decides how many stages the suit needs and how long each will take.[1]

A party absent from the hearing exposes itself to orders under Order IX of the Code, notwithstanding anything else in the Code.[1] In practice, the suit management hearing is where a commercial case is won or lost on structure. Arrive with a list of issues, a witness plan, a document bundle and a proposal for which issues can be decided on paper.

Adjournments and the ninety-day final hearing

Before the final hearing, each party may seek time no more than three times, on cause shown, and the court may grant it on payment of reasonable costs. Under section 9(6), once the court fixes the suit for final hearing, the final hearing must be completed within ninety days of that date, without exception.[1]

If a party's deliberate act, omission or negligence prevents disposal within ninety days, the court may impose costs on that party, and the party cannot take part in the proceedings until it pays. If it still does not pay, the court may add the costs to the main decree and recover them.[1] That sanction has teeth: a defendant that stalls risks being shut out of its own trial.

Evidence on affidavit and combined stages

Under section 9(8) the court may give judgment without oral evidence where the parties' affidavits, documents and hearing are enough. Where oral evidence is needed, the court defines its scope by reference to the issues and takes evidence-in-chief by affidavit with brief cross-examination; no oral evidence may be taken outside that scope.[1] Section 9(9) lets the court complete several stages of a suit on one date, provided no party is prejudiced.

Restoration, ex parte decrees and priority cases

Where a suit is dismissed for the plaintiff's default or decreed ex parte, a miscellaneous case to restore or set aside no longer needs fresh summons. Under section 9(7), notice to the other side's appointed lawyer is enough unless that lawyer states in writing that they are no longer instructed, and the case is to be disposed of summarily, as far as possible without oral evidence.[1] Section 9(10) allows the court to give priority to suits involving development projects, infrastructure projects or investments of significant importance.[1]

The table below sets out the key statutory time limits. On a phone, scroll it sideways.

Summary judgment under section 10

Section 10 introduces a true summary judgment procedure for any commercial dispute. After summons has been served on the defendant, any party, plaintiff or defendant, may apply for judgment by summary trial. If the court considers the application admissible, it must fix a hearing within fifteen days of filing.[1]

After the hearing, the court may give judgment on the plaint, the written statement and the documents filed if two conditions are met: the plaintiff has no prospect of obtaining relief, or the defendant has no prospect of proving its defence; and no oral evidence is needed to resolve the dispute.[1]

When to apply for summary judgment

Summary judgment suits claims that are documented and largely admitted: unpaid invoices with delivery records, acknowledged account balances, dishonoured payment undertakings, or a clear liquidated sum under a signed contract. Defendants can use the same route to dispose of claims that are time-barred or contradicted by the plaintiff's own documents.

Support the application with a tight documentary bundle showing why each defence fails on the papers. Where a defence turns on a genuine dispute of fact, the issue is likely to go to trial, so apply for summary judgment on the undisputed part of a claim rather than risk credibility on the whole. Summary judgment is distinct from the Order XXXVII summary procedure on negotiable instruments in the ordinary courts, which our guide to contract enforcement in Bangladesh discusses.

Interest and costs

Interest and costs are where the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh most directly changes the economics of a dispute. Under the general Code of Civil Procedure, interest and costs are governed by sections 34 and 35 and are largely discretionary.[13] The Act sets more specific defaults.

Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest

Section 9(11) applies unless the parties have agreed otherwise. Where a judgment orders payment of money, the court may add interest for all or part of the period from the date the dispute arose to the date of judgment, at the rate fixed in the contract or, if there is none, at a rate the court determines. Unless the judgment orders otherwise, interest then runs from the date of judgment to the date of payment at 2% per annum above the prevailing bank rate, meaning the rate fixed by Bangladesh Bank from time to time.[1]

Three points follow. First, the contract rate is the primary measure, so a well-drafted interest clause now carries weight in court. Second, pre-judgment interest runs from when the dispute arose, which makes the date of the first written demand or rejection important evidence. Third, because the post-judgment rate is a default, a judgment debtor has a growing incentive to pay rather than delay execution.

Loser-pays costs

Under section 9(12), the unsuccessful party pays the successful party's costs as a general rule. The court may refuse costs or reduce them where the losing party succeeded on part of the case, did not act mala fide, or where an order would otherwise be unfair. To fix the amount, the court may require both parties to file detailed costs statements and may reduce them to a reasonable figure. Costs expressly include court fees, lawyers' fees, witnesses' travel expenses and any other reasonable expense of conducting the suit.[1]

Under the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh, costs are no longer nominal. Keep fee notes and expense records from the outset, and price adverse costs into every settlement decision.

Asset disclosure and execution of decrees

Winning a decree in Bangladesh has rarely been the hard part; collecting on it has. Section 9(13) gives the Commercial Court a disclosure power for execution: to identify the judgment debtor's property, the court may order the judgment debtor to provide the necessary information, and may give directions to any government or private person or authority for that purpose.[1]

This lets a decree-holder ask the court to direct banks, land registries, the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies or other bodies to disclose the judgment debtor's holdings. The Act prescribes no form, so the application should name the authorities, the information sought and the period covered. Execution otherwise follows the Code. Our guide to the execution case in Bangladesh explains attachment, sale and the other execution steps.

A settlement reached in mediation and accepted by the court under section 7(4) is enforced in the same way, as a decree of the Commercial Court.[1]

Appeals, revision and review

Section 6(1) provides that, notwithstanding any other law, no appeal lies against any order of a Commercial Court other than its final judgment. Revision and review remain available against Commercial Court orders, following the principles and provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure.[1]

Under section 6(2), a party aggrieved by a judgment or order may file an appeal or, as the case may be, a revision in the High Court Division within sixty days of the date of the judgment or order.[1] The appeal is intended to be heard by the Commercial Appeal Benches constituted under section 3(4).

What this means for interlocutory orders

Because interim orders cannot be appealed, a party aggrieved by an injunction, an attachment order or a refusal of either must use revision. Revision is narrower than appeal, so the record at first instance matters. Make every objection on the record and ask the court to give reasons. Our guides to civil revision and the civil appeal in Bangladesh explain how those remedies work in the ordinary system. The Act itself does not provide a separate route to the Appellate Division, so further review follows the general constitutional and procedural rules.

Transfer of pending cases and arbitration proceedings

Section 8(1) transfers to the competent Commercial Court any proceeding in a civil court concerning a commercial dispute for which a Commercial Court has been established. Where an appeal or revision against an interim order in that proceeding is pending in a higher court, the transfer waits until the challenge is decided.[1]

An explanation to section 8(1) applies the transfer rule to proceedings filed under the Arbitration Act 2001, and provides that the Act governs the parts of any transferred proceeding not yet completed.[1] Applications to set aside awards, enforcement petitions and interim-measure applications under the Arbitration Act can therefore move to the Commercial Court.

Suit management for transferred suits

If a written statement has already been filed in a transferred suit, section 8(2) requires the Commercial Court to hold a suit management hearing under section 9(4), whatever stage the suit has reached, and to fix the steps for the rest of the case.[1] A suit that has been pending for years will be re-timetabled, and parties should expect the ninety-day rule and the adjournment cap to apply from that point.

Objecting that a transferred suit is not commercial

A party who considers that a transferred suit is not a commercial dispute must object within thirty working days after the first date fixed in the Commercial Court, and the court must decide the objection within the next thirty working days. If the court finds the dispute is not commercial, the suit goes back immediately to the court it came from.[1] Miss the window and the objection is likely lost.

Technology, transparency and the overriding effect

Section 14 allows every kind of Commercial Court hearing to take place with the virtual presence of parties and lawyers under the Use of Information Technology by Courts Act 2020. Filing, service of summons, submission of documents and delivery of judgments may be done electronically, subject to the government providing the infrastructure and to Supreme Court practice directions.[1] The government has said it intends to bring ICT into Commercial Court proceedings, drawing on its experience with the e-bail bond system.[9]

Section 11 requires the Commercial Courts and the High Court Division to update monthly statistics on suits, applications, appeals and revisions filed, pending and disposed of, and to publish them on the Supreme Court's website.[1] Sections 13 and 15 oblige the government to provide infrastructure and, with the Supreme Court, training and continuing professional development for Commercial Court judges and lawyers. Section 16 gives the Act overriding effect: any other law inconsistent with it in the resolution of commercial disputes is void to the extent of the inconsistency.[1]

Status of rules, practice directions and reform in 2026

As at 20 October 2026, three implementation pieces deserve watching. The first is rules under section 17, including the pre-suit mediation procedure and the panel mediator rules under section 7(5); until those rules exist, section 7(1) has no practical effect.[1] The second is Supreme Court practice directions under section 12, which can set procedure in the Commercial Courts and fast-track appeals.[1] The third is the constitution of Commercial Appeal Benches under section 3(4).

The government's stated intention to amend

At a BIAC and UNDP seminar in May 2026, the Law Minister, Md Asaduzzaman, said the Act had been passed in haste and that the major issues international investors face, including regulatory, tax, labour and criminal litigation, were largely absent from it. He said the government would re-examine the Act and bring certain amendments, and that the Arbitration Act 2001 also needed reform.[7] He also warned that reliance on Code of Civil Procedure provisions risked making the Act a futile exercise.[8]

The context explains the urgency. At the same seminar a former Dhaka Chamber president, citing World Bank data, put the average time to enforce a contract in Bangladesh at 1,442 days.[7] In July 2026 the Law Minister told Parliament that 46,39,476 cases were pending across all courts as at 31 March 2026.[11] Commentators have noted that the outcome will depend on judicial training, infrastructure and careful handling of transferred cases.[12] No amendment had been enacted when this guide was updated, but any amending Act or rules will need to be checked against the analysis here.

What the Act means for banks, investors and businesses

Banks and financial institutions

Loan recovery remains with the Artha Rin Adalat, but banks are named in item 1 and sit at the centre of many other disputes: letters of credit, guarantees, correspondent arrangements, payment-system transactions under item 23 and insurance-linked claims. Lenders should map each live commercial dispute to the right forum, because a misfiled claim costs months. Our guide to LC disputes in Bangladesh covers one of the most common banking claims that falls outside loan recovery.

Foreign investors and joint venture partners

Joint venture and shareholder agreements, franchising, distribution, licensing, technology and IP disputes all now go to a specialist court with a fixed timetable. Where the contract has an arbitration clause, arbitration remains the primary forum, and the Commercial Court becomes the supervisory and enforcement court. For the comparison, see arbitration versus litigation in Bangladesh. For corporate disputes, see our guide to shareholder disputes in Bangladesh.

Contractors, suppliers and service providers

Construction contracts, tenders, sale of goods and service contracts are all listed, and section 9(10) allows priority for infrastructure and significant investment cases. Suppliers with documented unpaid invoices are the clearest beneficiaries of summary judgment and statutory interest. For the underlying contract-law rules on breach and damages, see contract law in Bangladesh.

Step by step: running a claim under the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh

The following sequence reflects how we prepare clients for a Commercial Court claim, whether as claimant or defendant. The general mechanics of filing a plaint are covered in our guide to civil suit filing in Bangladesh.

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Throughout, keep limitation in view. The Act does not change limitation periods, which still run under the Limitation Act 1908, and neither negotiation nor any mediation stops time running unless the law or a court order says so.

Mistakes to avoid in the Commercial Courts

• Assuming pre-suit mediation is always compulsory, or never is. Check for rules at the date of filing and plead urgency where it exists.
• Filing in the wrong forum. Test the claim against the twenty-four categories and the two exclusions before drafting the plaint.
• Omitting interest particulars. Section 9(2) requires them in the plaint, and they drive the interest award.
• Arriving unprepared at the suit management hearing. The issues, witnesses and timetable fixed there shape the whole case.
• Treating adjournments as routine. Three is the maximum before the final hearing, each with costs, and the final hearing itself must end within ninety days.
• Missing the thirty-working-day window to object that a transferred suit is not commercial.
• Waiting for final judgment to challenge an interim order. Revision is the route; there is no interlocutory appeal.
• Failing to record costs. Loser-pays recovery depends on a detailed, credible costs statement.
• Ignoring execution until after judgment. Identify assets early and use section 9(13) disclosure promptly.

Every one of these mistakes is avoidable with early advice on how the Commercial Courts Act Bangladesh applies to the specific commercial dispute. For an overview of every forum, see our guide on how to resolve disputes in Bangladesh. If you have a commercial claim or defence to assess, contact TRW.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Commercial Courts Act 2026 in Bangladesh?

It is Act No. 23 of 2026, dated 10 April 2026, which establishes specialist Commercial Courts for listed business disputes. It replaced the Commercial Court Ordinance 2026 and is deemed to have come into force on 1 January 2026.[1]

Is the Commercial Court Ordinance 2026 still in force?

No. Section 19 of the Act repealed the Ordinance, but everything done and every proceeding begun under it is treated as done under the Act.[1]

Is there a minimum claim value for the Commercial Courts?

No. The Act defines jurisdiction by subject matter, through twenty-four listed categories, and by territory. It sets no pecuniary threshold.[1]

Do the Commercial Courts hear bank loan recovery cases?

No. Matters within the Artha Rin Adalat's jurisdiction are excluded from the definition of commercial dispute, as are matters within the High Court Division's original jurisdiction.[1]

Is pre-suit mediation compulsory before filing?

Only if government rules prescribing the procedure exist when the suit is filed, and not where urgent interim relief is sought. Check the gazette at the date of filing.[1]

How many Commercial Courts are there?

A notification of 3 February 2026 created 75 Commercial Courts across all districts and major metropolitan areas, including three in Dhaka metropolitan area.[5]

How long does a Commercial Court trial take?

The Act requires the final hearing to be completed within ninety days of the date the court fixes it, and limits each party to three adjournments before the final hearing.[1]

What interest does a Commercial Court judgment carry?

Unless otherwise agreed, pre-judgment interest at the contract rate or a court-fixed rate from when the dispute arose, and post-judgment interest at 2% above the Bangladesh Bank rate unless the judgment orders otherwise.[1]

Can I appeal an interim order of a Commercial Court?

No. Only the final judgment is appealable. Interim orders can be challenged by revision or review, and appeals or revisions go to the High Court Division within sixty days.[1]

Do arbitration applications go to the Commercial Courts?

Arbitration agreements, proceedings and awards under the Arbitration Act 2001 are a listed category, and pending Arbitration Act proceedings are covered by the transfer provision in section 8.[1]