Author

Roberto Oliva

Roberto Oliva

Roberto is a partner of the Dispute Resolution Department of Pavia e Ansaldo, a leading independent Italian law firm, which has been operating in Italy and abroad for more than 60 years.

He is enrolled with the Milan Bar and admitted to practice before Italian senior Courts.

Roberto assists Italian and foreign clients in complex disputes before Italian State Courts and arbitral tribunals seated in Italy and overseas. Moreover, he is routinely appointed as an arbitrator by the parties, arbitral institutions, or appointing authorities.

Roberto is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), “Associazione Italiana dell’Arbitrato (AIA)”, ArbIT – Italian Forum for Arbitration and ADR, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb).

He also serves as the Honorary Secretary of the CIArb European Branch Committee, as a co-chair of ArbIT, and as the General Editor of the e-journal Arbitration in Italy.

Contributing since 2015

102 Articles · 3,692 Decisions

Author content

art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

Italy’s Supreme Court has finally granted full recognition to corporate arbitration with foreign seats. In judgment no. 8911 of 4th April 2025 (Italian text…
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art. 818 It. code civ. proc.

A partnership includes in its articles of association, amended in 2006, an arbitration clause referring all corporate disputes to arbitrators under the rules of…
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art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

An arbitration clause in a company’s articles of association allows disputes between shareholders and companies to be referred to arbitration. However, the law places…
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Court of Milan
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

Commercial arbitration practitioners sometimes face problems arising from the conduct of a party that, recalcitrant to see the dispute decided by the arbitrators as…
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Arbitration clause Clause
art. 818 It. code civ. proc.

1 March 2023 represents an important date for Italian arbitration practitioners.  The Italian Code of Civil Procedure reform enters into force, containing targeted but…
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Arbitration Institutional arbitration
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

2022 has been an exciting year for Italian arbitration practitioners. First, in 2022 was enacted the reform of Italian arbitration law, which will enter…
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art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

The sanctions adopted against certain Russian entities and individuals after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation might raise an issue of arbitrability…
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Arbitrability
Arbitration in Turkiye

Bilateral investment treaties (BIT) are international agreements providing the terms, conditions and protections for private investment by individuals and entities of a contracting State…
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art. 819/ter It. code civ. proc.

As far as the relationship between arbitration and Court proceedings is concerned, Italian law applies the s.c. parallel paths doctrine. This doctrine is laid…
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Arbitration clause Corporate arbitration
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

The Court of Appeal of Milan and the Court of first instance of Milan recently issued two decisions on the issue of Court’s and…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 633 It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by the Court of first instance of Vicenza (Court of first instance of Vicenza, decision No. 1102 of 27 June…
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Arbitration
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

Default arbitration proceedings, or – with a more accurate wording – arbitration proceedings in which a situation occurs corresponding to the situation giving rise…
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Appeal Appeal
art. 819/ter It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by the Court of Appeal of Milan (No. 1946 of 23 June 2021, Italian text available here) deals with a…
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Appeal Appeal
art. 816/quater It. code civ. proc.

Both from a historical point of view and in a number of its actual implementations, arbitration is a bilateral dispute resolution mechanism: in other…
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Arbitration Domestic arbitration
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

Two virtually simultaneous decisions, issued by two different lower Courts, reached opposite conclusions (Court of Catania, decision No. 1020 of 13 March 2020, Italian…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by the Italian Supreme Court (decision No. 1788 of 28 January 2021, Italian text available here) deals with the issue…
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Arbitration Domestic arbitration
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

Mountains of papers have been written, countless rhetorical statements and a handful of enlightening and careful considerations were spent to describe 2020 and how…
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Corporate arbitration Domestic arbitration
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

Italian law provisions on corporate arbitration (enacted by legislative decree no. 5 of 17 January 2003) entails a number of interpretative issues, possibly the…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 808 It. code civ. proc.

Separability presumption is universally applied, as the relevant doctrine spread all over the world during the first half of XX century. In the words…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

In order to access the Recovery Fund, EU member States are required to draft a “National Recovery and Resilience Plan”, consistent with the specific…
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Arbitration Domestic arbitration
art. 817 It. code civ. proc.

An Arbitral Tribunal seated in Padua recently dealt with some issues concerning its jurisdiction. The award was delivered on 21 January 2020 and its…
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Arbitration clause Clause
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

International corporate arbitration under Italian law is a very interesting topic that nonetheless is virtually neglected by Italian scholars. Besides, to date there are…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 832 It. code civ. proc.

The Arbitration Rules of Milan Arbitration Chamber, which came into force a year ago (as discussed here), has recently been integrated.  The new provisions,…
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Arbitration clause Clause
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

CoViD-19 pandemic also has an impact on arbitration proceedings. The relevant issues were addressed by Italian lawmaker, that enacted provisions which require careful thought…
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Arbitration covid
art. 808/bis It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by the Court of Milan (No. 1684 of 24 February 2020, Italian text available here) concerns a very interesting topic,…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 808/quater It. code civ. proc.

Arbitrability of disputes arising out of the termination of a contract: in my opinion, this is a very interesting topic, both for its theoretical…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 808/bis It. code civ. proc.

Pre-contractual liability, under Italian law, is a form of tort liability.  In a nutshell (and with some degree of approximation), it concerns cases similar…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
Without category

This blog is inter alia aimed at spreading and improving the knowledge of arbitration in Italy, hoping that this increased knowledge would also increase…
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art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

The Court of first instance of Milan issued an interesting decision addressing the relationship between counterclaims and objection to the Court’s jurisdiction raised by…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

In certain cases, Italian law requires the joinder of certain parties to the proceedings. For instance, as a general rule, the action aimed at…
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Appeal Arbitration
art. 808 It. code civ. proc.

The arbitration clause, in Italian jurisdiction as well as in a number of other jurisdictions, does not constitute an ancillary clause of the underlying…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
Without category

Italian legal system is a civil law system: as a consequence, stare decisis doctrine does not apply in Italy. However, it is well known…
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Italian Supreme Court
art. 150 It. bankruptcy law

A recent decision issued by the Italian Supreme Court (Italian Supreme Court, I Civil Chamber, decision No. 24444 of 30 September 2019, Italian text…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 819/ter It. code civ. proc.

A contract contains an arbitration clause whereby the parties’ disputes are referred to arbitration. Notwithstanding the said clause, a party sues the other party…
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Arbitration Domestic arbitration
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by the Court of Appeal of Genoa (decision No. 1215 of 27 August 2019, Italian text available here) addresses a…
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Appeal
art. 808/bis It. code civ. proc.

In the previous post, I examined a decision, regarding arbitration and contractual restitutions, that in my opinion is not correct. On the basis of…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 808/bis It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by the Court of first instance of Milan (decision No. 7884 of 22 August 2019, Italian text available here) concerns…
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Arbitration clause Clause
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

The Court of Appeal of Milan issued a very interesting decision in proceedings aimed at setting aside an ICC award (decision No. 3123 of…
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Appeal ICC
art. 1341 It. civil code

Arbitration clause provided for by general terms and conditions: is it enforceable? The issue was recently addressed in a decision issued by the Court…
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Without category

Two ICSID Arbitral Tribunals, on the basis of similar reasons, reached the same conclusion: Achmea decision (available here) does not affect their jurisdiction. In…
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Jurisdiction
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by Italian Supreme Court (No. 17159 of 26 June 2019, Italian text available here) gives me the chance to make…
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Appeal Italian Supreme Court
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

The Italian Supreme Court has recently upheld its doctrine on the circulation of the arbitration clause in case of credit assignment (Italian Supreme Court,…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
Without category

Lucy Greenwood, a collegue from the UK, is promoting the idea of a Pledge for Greener Arbitrations. I think that this is a good…
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art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

A recent decision issued by the Court of Cosenza (no. 1171 of 4 June 2019, Italian text available here) addresses the topic of the…
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Arbitration Arbitration clause
art. 146 It. bankruptcy law

After a year-long pause, a new article is available on Arbitration in Italy!  It concerns a matter already analysed in the past: the relationship…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision delivered by the Court of Appeal of Brescia (decision no. 71 of 19 January 2017, Italian text available here) lets us briefly…
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Appeal Arbitration
art. 633 It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision issued by the Court of first instance of Rome (no. 24195 of 28 December 2016, Italian text available here) gives us the chance to…
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Arbitration Court of Rome
art. 827 It. code civ. proc.

If the Arbitral Tribunal issued a partial award on jurisdiction, should the parties immediately request its setting aside or may they await the issuance…
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Arbitration Domestic arbitration
art. 808/bis It. code civ. proc.

Italian Arbitration Law, as amended in 2006, expressly provides for the parties to enter into an arbitration clause concerning their possible tort disputes.  Indeed,…
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Arbitration Domestic arbitration
art. 35 decree no. 5/2003

It is the first time I comment on a non-Italian decision: it is a decision delivered by the High Court of England and Wales (Gerald…
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Order for payment
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

A recent decision of the Court of Appeal of Catanzaro (no. 1478 of 22 September 2016, Italian text available here) sums up the current doctrine of…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
art. 2379 It. civil code

Corporate disputes are capable of arbitration, under Italian law, if they concern negotiable rights (Art. 34(1) of Legislative Decree no. 5 of 17 January…
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Arbitrability Arbitration clause
art. 813/bis It. code civ. proc.

A recent decision of the Court of Appeal of Venice (decision no. 1855 of 17 August 2016, Italian text available here) deals with the topic…
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Appeal Domestic arbitration
art. 35 decree no. 5/2003

A recent decision of the Court of first instance of Catania (decision no. 4041 of 19 July 2016, Italian text available here) focused on…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 808 It. code civ. proc.

Italian Courts set forth peculiar rules concerning the assignment of the arbitration agreement in case of assignment of credit. In this respect, a recent decision issued by…
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Arbitration clause Clause
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

If the Articles of Association of a company contain an arbitration clause, does that clause apply to disputes concerning the transfer of shares? This…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 27 decree no. 40/2006

The Supreme Court sitting en banc unified the case law on the issue of the review on the merits of an award, rendered pursuant…
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Appeal Italian Supreme Court
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

A recent decision of the Court of first instance Naples (decision no. 4874 of 19 April 2016, Italian text available here) follows the (outdated)…
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art. 808/ter It. code civ. proc.

A recent ruling of the Court of first instance of Genoa (decision no. 1325 of 14 April 2016, Italian text available here) deals with…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 2379 It. civil code

A recent decision by the Court of first instance of Florence (decision no. 1129 of 21 March 2016 of III Civil Chamber of the Court of…
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Arbitrability Arbitration clause
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

The Supreme Court addressed the arbitrability of disputes between companies and directors concerning the directors’ remuneration (decision no. 2759 of 11 February 2016 of…
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Arbitrability Arbitration clause
art. 42 It. code civ. proc.

The relationship between arbitration and judicial proceedings was the topic of a ruling of the Italian Supreme Court (order no. 783 of 19 January 2016 of the…
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Appeal before the Italian Supreme Court on ground of jurisdiction Italian Supreme Court
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

I find interesting a recent ruling of the Italian Supreme Court (order no. 1119 of 21 January 2016, VI Civil Chamber, Italian text available…
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Arbitrability Arbitration clause
art. 70 It. code civ. proc.

A recent ruling of the Court of first instance of Rome (decision no. 25936 of 30 December 2015, Italian text available here) brings up…
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Arbitrability Arbitration clause
art. 700 It. code civ. proc.

The Court of first instance of Milan in a recent order of 22 December 2015 (Italian text available here) deals with the issue of the…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

This is the third time in row we deal with the issue of the review on the merits of an arbitration award, rendered pursuant to…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

The Court of Appeal of Venice, in its decision no. 2722 of 30 November 2015 (Italian text available here), deals with the issue of the possible review on…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

The Supreme Court recently ruled on an interesting matter. The case dealt with the consequences of the prohibition to undertake or continue economic transactions with…
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Arbitrability Arbitration clause
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

An arbitration clause stipulates that all the disputes arising out of the agreement may be referred to an Arbitral Tribunal. Is that an optional arbitration, in…
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Appeal Appeal before the Italian Supreme Court on ground of jurisdiction
art. 829 It. code civ. proc.

Decision no. 22007 of the I Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court (Italian text available here) deals with the issue of the grounds for setting aside…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
art. 808/quater It. code civ. proc.

An arbitration clause stipulated in the preliminary agreement (that is, a kind of agreement to agree, which is enforceable under Italian law) was not…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
art. 633 It. code civ. proc.

It is quite usual that, when inserting an arbitration clause in an agreement, a party would like to preserve its right to file with…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

A recent judgment of the Supreme Court (decision no. 18707 of 22 September 2015, Italian text available here) dealt with a very peculiar case.…
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Arbitration clause Clause
art. 819/ter It. code civ. proc.

The First Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court requested the First President of the Court to transfer to the Supreme Court sitting en banc a…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association clause
art. 633 It. code civ. proc.

The Court of first instance of Rome (decision no. 19215 of 28 September 2015, Italian text available here) ruled in a complex case concerning…
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Arbitrability Arbitration clause
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

Two recent rulings of the Italian Supreme Court analysed the relationship between arbitration and insolvency proceedings. The first ruling (decision no. 13089 of 24 June…
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Arbitration clause Bankruptcy
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

If an arbitration clause is stipulated in the company’s Articles of association, disputes between a former shareholder and the company, concerning the repayment of a…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association
art. 816/septies It. code civ. proc.

In its decision no. 17956 of 11 September 2015, the Supreme Court applied for the first time Article 816/septies of the Italian Code of Civil…
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Appeal Arbitration clause
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

Order no. 17283 of 28 August 2015 of the Italian Supreme Court affirmed the jurisdiction of an Arbitral Tribunal on the challenge of certain…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association
art. 832 It. code civ. proc.

The Chamber of Arbitration of Milan has recently issued its guidelines for Tribunal-appointed experts in arbitration proceedings administered by the Chamber. These guidelines are available…
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Adversarial principle Domestic arbitration
art. 34 decree no. 5/2003

The Court of first instance of Milan went back to analyse the relationship between Courts’ jurisdiction and the jurisdiction of Arbitral Tribunals, with respect to the challenge…
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Arbitration clause Articles of association
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

The wording of the arbitration clause should be carefully selected, as it constitutes the basis of the jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal.  A possible wrong…
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Articles of association Articles of association clause
Without category

The World Council of the International Chamber of Commerce appointed the members of the International Court of Arbitration for the term July 2015-June 2018. Italy will continue to…
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ICC Institutional arbitration
art. 806 It. code civ. proc.

Arbitration in Italy was founded in 2015 by Roberto Oliva as a blog. The underlying idea was that of spreading arbitration culture in Italy…
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art. 24 It. bankruptcy law

In insolvency matters, Italian law does not favour arbitration. On the one hand, the vis attractiva concorsus principle pursuant to article 24(1) of the Italian Insolvency Law states…
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Bankruptcy Institutional arbitration