Since 1 July 2023 Cyprus has had a three-tier court system for the first time in its history. District and specialised courts hear cases at first instance, a new Court of Appeal sits above them, and two top courts, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Constitutional Court, sit above that. Which court hears your case depends on the subject matter and, in an ordinary money claim, on how much it is worth. The harder question is how long you will wait, and there the news is mixed.
What the 2023 reform actually changed
Until 30 June 2023 the Supreme Court did almost everything at the top. It was the only appellate court in the country and it doubled as the constitutional court, which is one reason appeals took years. Law 145(I)/2022, passed in August 2022 alongside the seventeenth amendment to the Constitution, broke that job into three.
The Court of Appeal started work on 1 July 2023 with 16 judges and civil, criminal and administrative divisions. It hears appeals from every first-instance court, and civil and commercial appeals have gone there since 3 July 2023. For the overwhelming majority of litigants it is the last court that will look at their case.
The Supreme Court kept seven judges and now hears third-instance appeals only. The Supreme Constitutional Court has nine and handles the matters the Constitution reserves to it under Articles 137 to 151, plus appeals referred from the Court of Appeal on Administrative Court decisions raising public-law questions.
Getting to either top court requires leave, and leave is not granted for a losing party who simply disagrees. You need a constitutional question, a point of law of general public importance, conflicting decisions of the Court of Appeal, or some other exceptional ground.
Which court hears your case
| Dispute | Court |
|---|---|
| Contract, debt, negligence, property | District Court of the relevant district |
| Serious crime (over five years' imprisonment) | Assize Court, sitting with three judges |
| Divorce, custody, matrimonial property | Family Court |
| Unfair dismissal, redundancy, employment terms | Labour Disputes Court |
| Statutory tenancies under the Rent Control Laws | Rent Control Court |
| Challenges to decisions of a government department | Administrative Court |
| Asylum and international protection | Administrative Court of International Protection |
There are five District Courts: Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos and Famagusta. Which one you file in is set by where the cause of action arose, wholly or partly, or where the defendant lives or carries on business. Within the building, the rank of the judge is decided by the size of the claim. A District Judge hears claims up to €100,000, a Senior District Judge up to €500,000, and the President of the District Court has no ceiling. On the criminal side a district judge tries offences summarily where the maximum penalty does not exceed five years' imprisonment or a fine of €85,000; anything heavier goes to the Assize Court.
The specialised courts matter more than the list suggests, because filing in the wrong one costs months. An employment claim belongs in the Labour Disputes Court rather than the District Court, as covered in our guide to working in Cyprus. A landlord chasing a statutory tenant goes to the Rent Control Court, not the District Court, which is one of the traps described in Cyprus rental laws. Divorce and the property claim that follows it are dealt with by the Family Courts, and the divorce process runs on its own timetable.
The Commercial Court that has not opened
Cyprus passed a law in June 2022, Law 69(I)/2022, creating a Commercial Court of five judges and an Admiralty Court of two. The Commercial Court was designed to take commercial disputes worth more than €2,000,000 excluding interest, along with competition, arbitration and intellectual property matters at any value. The Admiralty Court would take vessel and aircraft claims exclusively.
The genuinely useful feature is language. Where at least one party is not domiciled in Cyprus, a judge can direct that the whole case runs in English, including pleadings, evidence, submissions and the judgment itself. For an international business used to arbitration in London, that removes the translation layer that makes Cyprus litigation expensive.
Both courts were meant to open on 1 January 2023. Neither has begun trying cases, because the appointment of their judges has not been completed. Practitioner guides published in 2026 still describe them as awaiting judges. If a contract you are drafting names the Cyprus Commercial Court, check the Supreme Court's announcements before you rely on it existing.
The 2023 Civil Procedure Rules
New Civil Procedure Rules took effect on 1 September 2023 and apply to claims filed from that date. Anything older continues under the previous rules, so two systems are running side by side and will be for years. The new rules are modelled closely on the English CPR, which is a real advantage if your adviser trained in England.
Four changes are worth knowing before you start a claim.
- 1Pre-action protocols now bite. You are expected to set out your case and exchange information before issuing proceedings. On a specified monetary claim the defendant must acknowledge the letter of claim within 14 days and say when a full response will follow. A party who ignores the protocol can be penalised in costs or have the proceedings stayed until it is followed properly.
- 2The early timetable is short. A defendant files a memorandum of appearance within 14 days of service, then a defence within 28 days of that.
- 3Small claims have their own regime. Part 29 applies to claims under €10,000 and simplifies disclosure, evidence and the hearing itself, with rule 29.9 allowing the court to decide the claim without a hearing at all. Below €3,000 the court will usually direct written witness statements on affidavit and no live evidence unless someone persuades it otherwise. Above €10,000, general disclosure is due at least 14 days before the case management conference.
- 4Appeal deadlines are tight. Forty-two days from a final judgment, 14 days from an interim one. Extensions exist but are exceptional.
Watch limitation as well as procedure. Under the Limitation of Actions Law, Law 66(I)/2012, contract claims run for six years, claims in negligence, nuisance and breach of duty for three, and there is a general ten-year long stop from the date the cause of action was perfected.
How long it takes, honestly
The 2026 EU Justice Scoreboard puts the estimated time to resolve a litigious civil or commercial case at first instance at nearly 580 days for 2024, up from roughly 520 days the year before. That leaves Cyprus the second-slowest jurisdiction in the EU after Greece. Administrative first-instance cases went the wrong way faster, from around 400 days to nearly 800. Pending cases sat at about four and a half per 100 inhabitants.
The one bright figure is the clearance rate, which is among the highest in the EU. Cypriot courts are now closing more cases than are filed, so the backlog is shrinking, but it is shrinking from a very large number. For complex commercial disputes, practitioner guides still put the gap between issuing proceedings and trial at around five years. Budget on that basis and treat settlement as the likely outcome rather than the fallback. Our note on what lawyers charge in Cyprus sets out the fee ranges that go with a case of that length.
Filing has at least moved online. The first phase of the iJustice platform launched in July 2026, covering electronic filing, case management and interim applications, and aligned with the new procedure rules. Later phases running to 2027 are meant to bring in more courts and the criminal jurisdictions. None of it changes a deadline: 42 days is still 42 days if the portal is down.
If you want the wider constitutional picture, including why English precedent still carries weight in a Cypriot courtroom, see is Cyprus law based on UK law.
Facing a dispute in Cyprus? Browse the directory for a litigation and disputes lawyer in the district where your case will be heard, and get the pre-action protocol right before you file. Court structure and rules described here reflect the position in September 2026.