Court of Napoli, judgment of 10 September 2026, No. 12182

Under art. 808-ter, co. 2, n. 1 cod. proc. civ., a contractual award may be annulled where the arbitrators have ruled upon submissions exceeding the limits of the arbitration agreement, provided that the corresponding objection was raised in the arbitral proceedings; the provision therefore requires both an objective exceeding of the limits of the arbitrators' mandate and a prior challenge to such excess before the arbitrators.
Arbitration clauses contained in companies' articles of association are to be construed according to the ordinary canons of contractual interpretation, by seeking the common intention of the parties as it emerges from a reading of the instrument as a whole, with a tendentially extensive approach to the arbitration agreement, provided that no contrary intention of the parties appears.
The extensive criterion laid down by art. 808-quater cod. proc. civ. operates only where there is doubt as to the scope of the arbitration agreement and cannot be used so as to deprive of effect another clause of the same articles of association which, in respect of a specific situation, identifies a particular procedure and a different person entrusted with the relevant task.
A clause in the articles of association which, in respect of a specific situation, entrusts the decision to a specifically identified person is special in character as against the general arbitration clause, with the consequence that an arbitrator's determination on that subject matter exceeds the limits of his contractual mandate.
The annulment of the award in so far as it ruled beyond the limits of the arbitration agreement affects the claims concerning the costs of the arbitral proceedings, the fees of the arbitrator and of the secretary and the costs of the expert evidence, since those items find in the award their necessary premise.