Pursuant to art. 819-ter co. 1 cod. proc. civ., the plea of lack of jurisdiction of the court by reason of an arbitration agreement must be raised, on pain of forfeiture, in the statement of defence; under the regime following the reform introduced by d.l. 35/2005 (converted into l. 80/2005), the statement of defence containing the plea of arbitration must be filed at least twenty days before the hearing for appearance specified in the writ of summons, with the consequence that the appearance of the defendant only at the first hearing for the conduct of proceedings renders the plea out of time.