ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Luciano Castelli, Gian Paolo Coppola, Claudia Bosco and Matteo Creuso, LCA Studio Legale
be that of Rome. The party seeking enforcement must file the award with the competent court, along with the arbitration agreement. The court will only check if the award meets the formal requirements provided for by law and provides (or denies) the declaration of enforceability by decree. In the second (potential) phase, one party can chal - lenge the decree. If the award has not yet become binding or has been set aside or suspended by a competent authority of the state of the seat or of the law under which it has been issued, the Court of Appeal denies its enforce - ment. If a party requested the annulment or the sus - pension of the validity of the foreign award to the foreign competent authority of the seat, the Court of Appeal may stay the proceedings for the recognition or enforcement of the award; upon request by the party concerned, it may, in the event of a stay, order that the other party give an appropriate security. A foreign state can invoke sovereign immunity to object to the enforcement of arbitral awards and shield its property and assets used to perform its sovereign functions. On the other hand, property and assets related to private functions can be subject to enforcement proceedings. 12.3 Approach of the Courts Italian courts tend to recognise and enforce arbitral awards. Domestic courts refuse to enforce arbitral awards on public policy grounds by referring to international public policy, avoiding the implementation of values incompatible with the Italian legal system’s inspiring principles, as provided by the Constitution and all those laws equated with it. 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration The CCP does not contain provisions that allow for class-action arbitration or group arbitration.
However, Article 816-quater of the CCP does allow for combining multiple claims into a single arbitra - tion case, provided that (i) the arbitration agreement devolves the appointment of arbitrators to a third party, (ii) the arbitrators are appointed by agreement of all the parties, or (iii) the other parties, after the first party has appointed their arbitrator or arbitrators, appoint by agreement an equal number of arbitrators or entrust a third party with the appointment of arbi - trators. 13.2 Ethical Codes There is no specific ethical code in Italy for counsel and arbitrators conducting proceedings. However, if admitted to practice law in Italy, counsel and arbi - trators are subject to the provisions of the code of professional ethics. Moreover, some arbitral institutions have their own code of ethics for arbitrators (eg, the code of ethics for arbitrators of the Milan Chamber of Arbitration is an annex to the arbitration rules). 13.3 Third-Party Funding There are no rules in Italy applicable to third-party funding, and there is no legal obstacle to use it in arbitration. However, it is still uncommon in Italy. 13.4 Consolidation While the CCP does not explicitly address consolidat - ing separate arbitration proceedings, it is generally considered permissible under certain conditions. In particular, all parties involved in the separate proceed - ings must consent to consolidation and the arbitration agreements, involved parties, and arbitral tribunal for the separate proceedings must be the same. In practice, many arbitral institutions’ rules provide guidance on consolidation. For instance, the Rules of the Milan Chamber of Arbitration empower arbitrators to decide whether to consolidate multiple proceedings connected to the same dispute. 13.5 Binding of Third Parties In Italy, arbitration agreements typically only bind the parties who signed them.
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