Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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The enactment of Law No. 25 of January 5, 1994 introduced profound changes in the regulation of both domestic and international arbitration in Italy. This law substantially rewrote Articles 806 through 831 of Book IV, Chapter VIII "Dell'arbitrato," of the Code of Civil Procedure and added Articles 832 through 840, which are specifically dedicated to international arbitration and the recognition of foreign awards; the same technique was used with respect to the 1983 reform of Italian arbitration procedure and is common practice in other European countries.

Overall, the reform is an excellent innovation that perhaps could have been slightly more radical in certain respects, but which certainly serves to further align Italian arbitration laws with those of other European states, with respect to which the Italian system is now substantially similar.

The basic philosophy on the place of arbitration in the legal systems of the major European countries and of the United States has been in the past, is presently and appears likely in the future to be substantially uniform. By this I do not mean that the rules are identical, which would be highly improbable, but rather that there is a common outlook (whether hostile or favorable) and common technical solutions that are the result of choices made on the basis of similar principles.

There are a number of reasons for the development of uniformity in the approach to arbitration. First of all, as a matter of policy, arbitration is an expression of private autonomy, the expansion of which in the jurisprudential sphere will inevitably conflict with the principle of a governmental monopoly on judicial dispute resolution and its corollaries.