In matters of insolvency proceedings, the mandatory functional jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court, provided for by Article 24 of the Bankruptcy Act and by Article 13 of Legislative Decree no. 270/1999 for extraordinary administration, operates not only with reference to disputes that originate from and are founded upon the declaration of insolvency, but also to those liable to affect the insolvency proceedings, insofar as the verification of a claim against the insolvent debtor constitutes the basis for a claim against the estate. It follows that claims asserted against a party subject to bankruptcy or extraordinary administration cannot be pursued in arbitration, since the effect of conferring jurisdiction upon the arbitrators, which is inherent in the arbitration agreement or arbitration clause, is overridden by the prevailing effect produced by the opening of the insolvency proceedings, which determines the removal of actions concerning the verification of a claim against the undertaking subject to the proceedings to the special and mandatory procedure for the verification of liabilities (verificazione dello stato passivo).
The public policy objectives inherent in the procedural model of in-bankruptcy verification of claims cannot be satisfied in an alternative arbitral forum, with the consequence that claims for verification of debt, damages, set-off of claims against debts and, generally speaking, all those seeking a declaration that a party subsequently declared bankrupt is liable to pay sums of money, must be declared inadmissible pursuant to Article 52 of the Bankruptcy Act.