ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Marco Torsello, Federica Serrantoni, Lucia Pontremoli and Gregorio Baldoli, ArbLit
the creditor submits its petition for sale of the prop - erty. After having verified the completeness of all the service procedures and formal requirements, the court orders the sale, and the base sale price is set. This type of enforcement usually guarantees that the credit is recovered (in whole or in part, depending on the amount due and the price obtained following sale of the real estate). However, it is subject to relevant costs (including tax duties and the fees of the profes - sionals involved) and requires an extensive procedure Creditors resort to this procedure in order to expro - priate claims that the debtor has against third par - ties, typically including banks, employers and social security institutions (provided that claims for salaries and social security wages can be seized only up to one fifth of the monthly amount owed to the debtor). By virtue of the writ of attachment, which is to be served to the debtor and the third party, the creditor must identify the third party but need not specifically indicate the debtor’s accounts or the amounts owed. It will be up to the third party – within ten days of receipt of the writ of attachment – to notify the creditor in writing of what sums are owed to the debtor and when payment is due, as well as of the existence of any other pending seizures or attachments over those assets. On the basis of this information, the creditor is thus able to assess whether or not it is worth proceed - ing, and the procedure for assigning the third-party claim in favour of the creditor is usually somewhat expedited. 2.3 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Domestic Judgments Costs Enforcement costs are established on the basis of the value of the claim, to which legal fees, the court’s fees, and other professionals involved (ie, custodians, experts, notaries, etc) are parameterised. Therefore, enforcement costs vary significantly depending on the type of attachment that the creditor chooses. Attachments over movable assets usually entail low costs, unless higher expenses are required owing to (possibly lasting up to several years). Enforcement over third-party claims
the peculiar nature of the property subject to custody. Similarly, attachments against third-party claims also imply low costs. In contrast, enforcement against immovable property implies substantial costs, includ - ing not only taxes and duties but also fees owed to several professionals (experts, custodians, and the notary involved in the real estate sale). Time The duration of enforcement proceedings depends on several circumstances, including the type of attach - ments chosen and the timeframe required to complete the sales operations. As a general remark, enforce - ment of third-party claims is undoubtedly faster and more efficient, and may be completed within a few months. In contrast, enforcement against immovable property may involve complex, time-consuming activi - Besides resorting to the sources already mentioned (see 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position ), Italian law provides a specific procedure that may be activated by a creditor following the service of both the enforcement title and the writ of enforcement. Indeed, Article 492-bis of the CCP allows the credi - tor to request that the bailiff of the debtor’s place of residence gain telematic access to public administra - tion databases (including, in particular, the tax registry, the archive of financial reports, and the databases of social security institutions) in order to obtain informa - tion about assets that may be subject to attachment – for example, information about relationships with banks and employers. If the search is successful, the bailiff directly proceeds with the formalities required to execute the writ of attachment of the identified prop - erty ( atto di pignoramento ). 2.5 Challenging Enforcement of Domestic Judgments Italian law provides two different procedures to chal - lenge the enforcement of judgments. ties that can last from two to five years. 2.4 Post-Judgment Procedures for Determining Defendants’ Assets Opposition to Enforcement (Article 615 of the CCP) Through this procedure, the debtor disputes the credi - tor’s right to proceed with enforcement. By way of example, the debtor may hold that the enforcement
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