ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Marco Torsello, Federica Serrantoni, Lucia Pontremoli and Gregorio Baldoli, ArbLit
title is invalid or unenforceable, the obligation set in the title has already been fulfilled or is extinct, or the assets seized are exempt from attachment. This opposition is inadmissible if it is lodged after issuance of the order authorising the sale or the assignment of the seized assets. Opposition to Acts of Enforcement (Article 617 of the CCP) With this procedure, the debtor disputes: • the formal validity of the enforcement title and the writ of enforcement – in this case, the opposition must be lodged within 20 days of service of the above-mentioned documents; and • irregularities in service of the enforcement title and/ or of the writ of enforcement, or irregularities con - cerning subsequent individual acts of the enforce - ment procedure – in this case, the opposition must be lodged within 20 days of the service of the enforcement title and/or the writ of enforcement or of the day on which the relevant individual act was performed. The court seised with the challenge to enforcement (either under Article 615 of the CCP or under Article 617 of the CCP) may suspend the enforceability of the decision or enforcement itself, on the grounds of serious reasons. 2.6 Unenforceable Domestic Judgments As mentioned in 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments , sentenze di condanna are immediately enforceable, even if they are still subject to or have already been appealed. Conversely, both sentenze di mero accerta- mento and sentenze costitutive may be enforced only in so far as they acquired res judicata effect. Even for sentenze di condanna , however, enforcement may be precluded in cases where a stay of provisional enforcement is ordered. Indeed, the court competent for the appeal and the Supreme Court can suspend provisional enforceability of the decision – at the request of the debtor, with or without the imposition of a security – if the appeal appears to be manifestly well founded or if enforce - ment could result in serious and irreparable harm (even where the judgment concerns a sum of money),
including in relation to the possibility of insolvency of one of the parties. Furthermore, as mentioned in 2.5 Challenging Enforcement of Domestic Judgments , enforcement may also be suspended by the court seised with opposition to enforcement or opposition to acts of enforcement. On a different note, it is worth mentioning that – under Italian law – the limitation period for enforcement of judgments is established as ten years from the date on which the decision becomes res judicata. 2.7 Register of Domestic Judgments In Italy, there is no general central register providing a record of all judgments. In order to assess the content of case law, legal professionals may therefore resort to various legal databases – mostly available through a subscription – that include the text of decisions issued by the Italian Supreme Court and (some, but not all) lower courts. Alternatively, an interested party may request a copy of a specific court decision from the clerk of the issuing court. As a general rule, the texts of the decisions are anonymised in advance. This is to remove the par - ties’ data (or other sensitive or confidential information that may be mentioned in the decision) to protect the privacy rights of those involved. 3. Foreign Judgments 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments The rules governing the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Italy depend on whether the judgment was rendered in an EU member state or in a non-EU country. EU Member States’ Judgments If the foreign judgment has been rendered in an EU member state, recognition and enforcement of that judgment is governed by EU law. The applicable EU regulation varies depending on the subject matter concerned.
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