Mercantile Courts

Courts of Commercial Matters are specialist courts within the area of civil law for resolving disputes on predominantly commercial matters as entrusted to them by law, as well as matters concerning insolvency.

Courts of Criminal Matters are responsible for hearing any matters to do with insolvency in the terms of the regulating Law and subject to article 85.6 of the Organic Law on the Judiciary (within the area of civil law, Courts of First Instance are responsible for hearing insolvency cases of natural persons that are not business-related according to terms laid out in the regulating Law), in addition to other matters - for the unity of the procedure - linked to varied disciplines that are considered of particular importance for the assets of the parties undergoing insolvency.

They have their seat in the capital of the province and have jurisdiction over the same, even though mercantile courts which extend their jurisdiction to two or more provinces of one autonomous community may be established.

The mercantile courts were created as a result of the reform of the Bankruptcy Law 8/2003, of the 9th of July, and began functioning on the 1st of September, 2004.

The mercantile courts of Alicante have competence, moreover, to know, in the first instance and in an exclusive manner, about all those litigations which are brought about under the protection of the provisions in Regulations numbers 40/94, of the Council of the European Union, of the 20th of December, 1993, on Community Trade Marks, and 6/2002, of the Council of the European Union, of the 12th of December, 2001, on Community Designs. In the exercise of this competence, said Courts will extend their jurisdiction over the entire national territory, and to these sole effects they shall be called Community Trademark Courts.