In the matter of arbitration, in respect of arbitration agreements entered into before the entry into force of Legislative Decree No. 40 of 2006, the challenge of the award for breach of rules of law relating to the merits of the dispute is admissible pursuant to Article 829, paragraph 2, of the Code of Civil Procedure in the text previously in force, unless the parties have authorised the arbitrators to decide according to equity or have declared the award not subject to challenge. In order to determine whether the challenge is admissible, regard is had to the law in force at the time the arbitration agreement was entered into.
The principle of correspondence between the relief sought and the relief granted under Article 112 of the Code of Civil Procedure also applies to arbitration, so that a breach of that principle constitutes a ground of nullity of the award.
In the matter of arbitration, the principle of correspondence between the relief sought and the relief granted prevents the arbitral tribunal, where it upholds the principal claim of a party, from examining and deciding a claim which that party put forward only in the alternative in the event of the principal claim being dismissed, regardless of the fact that the two claims are objectively compatible.
A breach of the principle of correspondence between the relief sought and the relief granted, entailing the nullity of the award, arises where the arbitral tribunal, having examined and upheld the claim put forward in the alternative, proceeds to find and uphold also the principal claim by relying on the findings made in relation to the alternative claim, thereby upholding both claims.
Pursuant to Article 830, paragraph 2, of the Code of Civil Procedure, if one of the parties, at the date of the signing of the arbitration agreement, is resident or has its effective seat abroad, the court of appeal decides the dispute on the merits only if the parties have so agreed in the arbitration agreement or make a joint request to that effect; in the absence of those conditions, there is no scope for the rescissory phase of the challenge proceedings.