The title of the new law introducing reform of the legal system in Italy is “Urgent measures relating to jurisdiction and other instruments to reduce delay in the civil justice system“. (Law n. 132 of 12th September 2014). Coming into force from January 2015, one aim of the law is to lighten the heavy workload of judges by reducing the backlog of more than 5 million pending cases that weigh down on the country’s courts, encouraging the parties involved in a dispute to resort to arbitration or negotiation with the help of their lawyers.
Although seen as a positive step and praised by the EU and the European Central Bank, as likely to encourage new investment and in the country, the law has been criticized for not putting in place incentives for negotiating out of court settlements or penalties for failure to do so.
Other features of the new legal reform include:
- New rules on costs to ensure that the loser is more likely to be ordered to pay – instead of current rules that leave this in the discretion of the judge;
- The raising of the interest rate in respect of unpaid sums subject of court proceedings, to avoid situation in the current culture where debtors defend actions simply to delay payment for years;
- Reduction of the current length of the “court summer holidays” At present all statutory time limits, for example for lodging defence pleadings, or presenting an appeal are suspended for six weeks. This period will be reduced to three weeks from 6th August to 31 August from 2015;
- Fast-track divorce – the new rules will also allow married couples without dependent children to separate or divorce, or amend the conditions for these, by application to the local authority;
- Civil liability of judges for negligence.
