The plea of an arbitration agreement is a plea which the court may not raise of its own motion and which is subject to the mandatory time limits laid down for the defendant’s pleadings, so that its late submission precludes its examination, save for relief from the time bar (rimessione in termini).
Relief from the time bar presupposes an express application, setting out specifically the causes, not attributable to the party, of the failure to comply with the mandatory time limit, and must be determined by procedural order with both parties heard, it not being permissible to grant it for the first time in the judgment disposing of the proceedings.
An order for costs founded upon the acceptance of a plea of arbitration which cannot be regarded as properly and timeously raised is unlawful.