The relationship between the Italian court and foreign or international arbitration involves a question of jurisdiction.
The identification of arbitration as international is determined according to the criteria established by the Geneva Convention of 21 April 1961, which provides as the criterion for identifying the international nature of arbitration that of the residence or actual seat abroad of at least one of the parties at the date of signing the arbitration clause, or that provided by the provision that a relevant part of the obligations arising from the relationship must be performed abroad.
In the presence of an arbitration clause for foreign or international arbitration, preventive regulation of jurisdiction under Article 41 of the Code of Civil Procedure is admissible, unless the defendant has expressly or tacitly accepted Italian jurisdiction. The specific objection to lack of jurisdiction before the tribunal makes the appeal for regulation admissible.
Articles 817 and 819-ter of the Code of Civil Procedure apply to international arbitration. Any decision regarding the invalidity or ineffectiveness of the arbitration clause, once arbitral proceedings have been instituted, cannot be referred to the national court. Scrutiny belongs exclusively to the arbitrators themselves, and the related decision can be contested exclusively with the remedies contemplated by law in the context of recognition of foreign awards.
An arbitration clause that contemplates the devolution to international arbitration of every dispute arising from or connected to the contractual agreement determines the lack of jurisdiction of the national court for all claims directly deriving from the agreement itself, including those based on contractual liability for breach and those relating to abuse of economic dependence correlated to the contractual relationship.