Italy - Baker and McKenzie International Arbitration Yearbook 2014-2015

Domestic and international arbitration in Italy continue to be governed by Articles 806-832 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the enforcement of foreign awards continues to be governed by Articles 839 and 840 of the Code and by the New York Convention (in force in Italy since May 1969).

As a result of the Decree-Law of September 12, 2014 n. 132, during the course of any ordinary civil proceedings (except for employment and social security cases), including any appeal, the parties may decide to switch to arbitration: in such a case, after the appointment of the arbitrators, the process does not start from scratch, but continues as an arbitration, and the award has the same legal value as a judgment of the ordinary court.

A.2 Trends and Tendencies

Other reforms of the arbitration process are expected in the next months, because the government is keen to streamline litigious proceedings and has already expressed the view that arbitration is one of the means to achieve this purpose. The reform reported above may therefore be considered only as a first step.