ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Marco Torsello, Federica Serrantoni, Lucia Pontremoli and Gregorio Baldoli, ArbLit
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. Key EU regulations governing recognition and enforce - ment of judgments are: • Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (“Brussels I bis Regulation”); • Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility (that, as of August 2022, has been replaced by Council Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 of 25 June 2019); • Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 f 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and co-operation in matters relating to maintenance obligations; • Regulation (EC) No 805/2004 of the European Par - liament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 creating a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims; • Regulation (EC) No 861/2007 of the European Par - liament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 estab - lishing a European Small Claims Procedure; • Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 creating a European order for payment proce - dure. As a general principle, EU member state judgments are automatically recognised (ie, without any specific procedure being required) and directly enforced (ie, without any exequatur being needed) in Italy. This is so because, under the above regulations, EU member states’ judgments benefit from a mutual recognition and enforcement regime – under which, the judgment rendered in a particular member state automatically produces effects and is directly enforceable in the other member states.
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 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 so that the data of the parties (or other sensitive or confidential information that may be mentioned in the decision) is removed in order to protect the right to privacy 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 foreign judgment has been rendered in an EU member state or a non-EU country.
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