Shipping 2025

ITALY LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Giorgio Berlingieri, Alberto Massimo Rossi, Alfredo Lizio, Alberto Torrazza, Simone Gaggero and Filippo Cassola, ADVANT Nctm

1. Maritime and Shipping Legislation and Regulation 1.1 Domestic Laws Establishing the Authorities of the Maritime and Shipping Courts There are no maritime or shipping courts in Italy. Shipping disputes are submitted to, and settled by, civil courts. This is in line with Article 589 of the Italian Navigation Code, which states dis - putes regarding maritime accidents are to be submitted to the territorially competent court. The courts of the main maritime districts usually have divisions specialising in shipping matters. When it comes to maritime labour disputes, judgment No 5739 of the Italian Supreme Court of 3 March 2020 has confirmed that the stand - ard criteria for the identification of the territori - ally competent court (under Article 413 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure) do not apply. Reference must instead be made to the special criteria under Article 603 of the Italian Naviga - tion Code, which provides for two territorially competent courts: • the court of the place in which the maritime labour relationship was established, per - formed or ceased; or • the competent court in the district the vessel is registered in. This is because it is now generally accepted that, in the hierarchy of Italian legal sources, mari - time labour law is lex specialis (see Article 1 of the Italian Navigation Code), therefore overrid - ing provisions that are of a general nature (lex generalis). In light of this principle, not only is the material discipline of maritime labour law sig - nificantly different from ordinary labour law, but special procedural rules also apply in order to

determine the territorial jurisdiction of the court in charge of maritime labour disputes. 1.2 Port State Control Italy is a party to the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control signed on 26 January 1982 (the “Paris MoU”). Under the Paris MoU, each contracting state must main - tain an effective system of port state control to ensure that foreign merchant ships calling at, or anchored off, a port of such state comply with certain international standards. These provisions have been endorsed by Directive 2009/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009, which was transposed into Italian law by Legislative Decree No 53 on 24 March 2011. At a national level, the relevant Italian authori - ties in charge of port state control are local Har - bour Masters. These activities are also co-ordi - nated by the 6th Division of the Italian General Command of the Harbour Master Corps Office ( Comando Generale del Corpo delle Capitanerie di Porto ). The powers of these authorities in Ita - ly generally include notification of deficiencies, verification of the rectification of deficiencies, inspections and formal prohibitions to sail, as well as refusal of access and detentions. More specifically, according to Articles 578 to 584 of the Italian Navigation Code, Italian authorities responsible for port state control activities have the power to conduct administrative investiga - tions aimed at determining the causes and liabil - ities arising out of any marine casualty. Under Article 73 of the Italian Navigation Code, if the wreck of a vessel is considered to be a dan - ger or hindrance to navigation, the Italian Har - bour Master concerned may order the owner to carry out the removal of the wreck, at their own expense, while fixing a deadline for the removal.

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