Arbitration clauses contained in corporate founding documents must specify, under penalty of nullity, the number and procedures for arbitrator appointment, conferring authority to appoint all arbitrators to parties external to the company in order to guarantee arbitrator impartiality.
Nullity of arbitration clauses may be raised at any stage and level of proceedings, provided it can be inferred from defenses presented and internal res judicata has not formed on the issue, there being no forfeiture terms provided by any procedural rules.
Article 817, paragraph 2, second sentence, of the Civil Procedure Code does not preclude exception and ex officio finding of non-arbitrability of disputes due to conflict with mandatory provisions in award nullity challenge proceedings.
Nullity of arbitration clauses cannot be deemed cured by all parties' participation in arbitral proceedings and failure to raise exceptions at first hearing when nullity issues have nonetheless been raised during arbitration.
Arbitration clauses contained in partnership articles with procedures diverging from Article 34 of Legislative Decree 5/2003, if stipulated before its entry into force and never adapted, are affected by supervening nullity subject to ex officio finding, even regarding contractual arbitration.
In arbitral proceedings aimed at partnership share liquidation, necessary adversarial process regarding the partnership may be deemed properly instituted when all partners are summoned, where it appears the plaintiff intended to bring action against the partnership to assert their own credit.
Declaration of arbitration clause nullity and consequential award nullity prevent passage to the rescissory phase of challenge proceedings, precluding merit evaluation in the absence of arbitrators' potestas decidendi.