Italy's civil procedure rules have undergone substantial reform. A comprehensive overhaul of the Codice di Procedura Civile (Italian Code of Civil Procedure) took effect in stages from late 2023 and consolidates fully in 2025. International companies with pending or anticipated proceedings in Italian courts face new obligations. Failing to adapt exposes litigants to dismissed filings, lost procedural rights, and delays measured in years rather than months.
The 2025 amendments to Italian civil procedure introduce mandatory early disclosure requirements, revised timelines for the statement of claim and responsive pleadings, and digitised court filing obligations across all first-instance civil courts. The changes affect any party – domestic or foreign – involved in commercial litigation, contract disputes, or enforcement proceedings in Italy. Litigants must align their procedural strategy with the revised rules before initiating or responding to proceedings.
This alert explains what changed and when, identifies the business categories most exposed, and sets out the immediate actions international companies should take.
What changed and when it applies
The reform overhauled the structure of first-instance civil proceedings. The most significant shifts concern the early case-management phase.
Under the revised civil procedure rules, the parties must now set out their full factual and legal positions – including all evidence they intend to rely on – at the outset of proceedings. The statement of claim must identify every piece of documentary evidence at the point of filing. The defendant must do the same in the first responsive pleading. Courts have limited tolerance for evidence submitted late. Judges may refuse to admit documents or witness lists that were not declared within the initial exchange.
The reform also restructures the preliminary hearing. Italian courts now hold an early case-management conference – the udienza di prima comparizione e trattazione (first appearance and case-management hearing) – at which the judge sets a fixed procedural calendar. That calendar is treated as binding. Requests to extend deadlines are scrutinised closely and granted rarely.
Mandatory electronic filing – deposito telematico (electronic court submission) – now applies to all civil courts of first instance. Paper filings are no longer accepted for substantive procedural acts. Any court filing submitted through the wrong channel or in a non-compliant format risks being treated as not filed at all.
The rules on interim injunctions have also been tightened. An application for an inibitoria or other interim injunction requires a more detailed factual basis at the ex parte stage. Courts expect applicants to address urgency, fumus boni iuris (appearance of legal merit), and periculum in mora (risk of harm from delay) in structured written submissions. Deficient applications are rejected without a hearing in a growing number of districts.
For appeals, the Corte d'Appello (Italian Court of Appeal) has adopted stricter admissibility filters. An appeal must now identify with precision the specific errors of law or fact in the first-instance judgment. Broad or generic grounds of appeal are rejected at the admissibility stage, before the merits are examined.
Judgment enforcement rules have been aligned with EU enforcement instruments. The process for executing a judgment against a debtor's assets – the procedura esecutiva (enforcement procedure) – now includes tighter timelines for creditors to pursue asset seizure after a judgment becomes enforceable.
The effective date for full compliance across all first-instance civil courts is 1 January 2025. Proceedings commenced after that date are governed entirely by the new rules. Proceedings already pending were subject to a transition regime that ended on 30 June 2025. Any matter still active after that date – regardless of when it was filed – is now fully subject to the amended procedure.
Who is affected and why it matters for international companies
The reforms affect every party litigating before Italian civil courts. The impact is most acute for three categories of international business.
Companies with supply chain or distribution contracts governed by Italian law face the highest immediate exposure. Disputes arising from non-performance, price adjustment clauses, or termination are among the most common commercial claims filed in Italy. The new front-loaded disclosure model means that before filing a statement of claim, a party must have gathered and assessed all documentary evidence. The window for investigation after filing has effectively closed.
Creditors seeking judgment enforcement in Italy must act promptly. The tightened timelines in the enforcement procedure mean that delays in commencing execution after a judgment is issued can forfeit priority against other creditors or allow assets to be transferred.
Foreign companies named as defendants face a particularly sharp learning curve. The compressed timeframes for responsive pleadings – combined with mandatory electronic filing – leave little room for parties who are unfamiliar with the Italian court system. Engaging a lawyer in Italy with litigation experience before receiving court documents, rather than after, is now a practical necessity rather than a precaution.
Companies operating across the EU that have relied on recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Italy should also note that the amended enforcement procedure affects the speed and sequence of post-recognition execution steps.
To receive an expert assessment of how these procedural changes affect your pending or anticipated litigation in Italy, contact us at info@ferrazwhitmore.com.
Immediate actions for international litigants
Companies with any exposure to Italian civil proceedings should take the following steps without delay.
- Audit pending matters. Identify every active or potential dispute governed by Italian civil procedure. Confirm whether the matter is still in the transition regime or fully subject to the new rules. Any proceeding active after 30 June 2025 operates under the amended code.
- Front-load your evidence gathering. The new rules require full disclosure of evidence at the statement of claim or first responsive pleading. Begin document collection and witness identification before filing – not after. Gaps discovered mid-proceedings are difficult to remedy and may be fatal to specific arguments.
- Verify electronic filing compliance. Confirm that your Italian counsel is enrolled in the mandatory electronic filing system and is using court-approved software. A court filing rejected on technical grounds may be treated as a missed deadline, with consequences for the entire case.
- Review interim injunction applications before submission. If urgency relief is required, ensure the application addresses all three elements – legal merit, urgency, and harm from delay – in the precise format now expected. Incomplete applications are regularly refused on paper without an oral hearing.
- Assess appeal strategy now. If a first-instance judgment has been issued against you, obtain advice on whether the grounds of appeal meet the new admissibility threshold before investing resources in an appeal that may be filtered out at the gateway stage.
For companies with cross-border disputes that touch both Italian courts and proceedings in other jurisdictions, our team advises on coordinated strategies. Our analysis of litigation and arbitration in Italy addresses how international dispute resolution mechanisms interact with the domestic court system. For matters that combine corporate disputes with enforcement questions, the full scope of our corporate disputes practice in Italy covers both contentious and enforcement phases. International clients managing parallel proceedings in multiple EU jurisdictions may also find it useful to review our alert on comparable procedural reforms in Portugal for a comparative perspective.
About Ferraz & Whitmore
Ferraz & Whitmore is an international law firm based in Lisbon, advising business clients across 46 jurisdictions. Our commercial litigation practice in Italy covers first-instance civil proceedings, appellate strategy, interim injunction applications, and cross-border judgment enforcement. We combine Portuguese civil law expertise with English common law tradition to advise international entrepreneurs, institutional investors, and in-house legal teams on disputes across European and Atlantic markets. As a law firm in Italy and across the EU, we support clients who need coordinated counsel across multiple legal systems – from initial statement of claim through to final judgment enforcement. Our attorneys have advised on commercial litigation matters across both civil law and common law systems, and the firm participates in cross-border practice groups focused on EU civil procedure and enforcement. To discuss how the 2025 procedural reforms affect your position in Italian courts, contact us at info@ferrazwhitmore.com.
Disclaimer: This publication is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information herein should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel tailored to your specific circumstances. Ferraz & Whitmore assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@ferrazwhitmore.com.