The general rule on costs is that each party bears his or her own costs. However, at the end of litigation, the Court normally orders the loser to reimburse the winner's court fees. Legal fees are, as a general principle not included .In certain parts of Cameroon where principles of Common Law are applicable, the Courts are allowed to judiciously exercise inherent discretionary power by ordering punitive costs against any party for reasons as varied as defaultand abuse of Court Process. Because of judicial delays and varied nature of the workload of the Courts handling Commercial disputes it is difficult to say how long Commercial disputes usually take to be heard. This is further complicated by the fact that there are 2 different procedural rules applicable in the Country. The Civil procedure rules, styled after the Common Law Civil procedure rules applicable in the English speaking part of Cameroon, require the ordering of pleadings and a trial, while the “Procedure Civile et Commerciale,” styled after French Civil Procedure is based mainly on written submissions and the presentation of supporting documents. On the overrule it would take at least 12 months for a Civil or Commercial dispute to be heard at First Instance and about another 12 months for it to be heard on appeal.