Binding advice proceedings are commenced by submitting a request for binding advice to the administrator (secretariaat@nai-nl.org). The application form is completely free. You can use the download request form, but you do not need to do that. You can also fill in the form below - see the steps mentioned below - and send it to the NAI administrator. The binding advice proceedings will be deemed to have commenced on the date the request is received by the administrator (NAI Binding Advice Rules of 1 January 2015, hereinafter “Rules”, Article 7(1)).

The requirements a request for binding advice must meet are stated in Article 7(2) of the Rules. It should be noted that, if the request does not meet the requirements stated in Article 7(2), the administrator will contact the applicant in order to obtain additional information or amendment of the request as necessary. The administrator shall be authorised to suspend handling the request, this may lead to a delay in dealing with the request (Article 7(3)). The administrator will send one copy of the request to the respondent and invites him to respond to the request in a short answer (Article 8(1)).

The request for binding advice and the short answer serve as an introduction to the binding advice proceedings and are designed to further the process of appointing binding advisors. They do not prejudice the right of the parties to submit a statement of claim or a statement of defence (Article 9).