Elizabeth Sylvestri, 

Associate Professor of the Department of Italian Civil Procedure and Comparative 

Civil Procedure of the Law Faculty of the University of Pavia (Italy) 

The article examines the new for Italy institute of mediation by order of the court on the basis of rules governing mediation in civil and commercial cases and with a summary of changes in the institute of mandatory mediation, which appeared in Italy in 2010. It is important to note that the court have the authority in its discretion to determine whether to offer to the parties to attempt to a peaceful, mutual, satisfactory agreement and thus to finish the trial. In 2010, the Government of Italy adopted the legal act, which established a mandatory mediation procedure for broad categories of civil cases (e.g., cases on property, wills and inheritance, banking contracts, and losses caused by medical malpractice). Consequently, the disputing parties must make an attempt to go through mediation prior to trial. If they are unable to do this, and a trial began, the court must suspend the proceedings and to set a deadline for the parties to the mediation process. Readers are given a bit of statistical data to demonstrate that mandatory mediation, whether by law or by order of a court, does not necessarily stimulate the parties to reach agreement and resolve the dispute peacefully. 

Keywords: mediation; conciliation procedure; agreement of lawsuit; civil and commercial disputes; alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

References

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Information about the author

Elizabeth Sylvestri (Pavia) – Associate Professor of the Department of Italian Civil Procedure and Comparative Civil Procedure of the Law Faculty of the University of Pavia (Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Strada Nuova 65, I-27100 Pavia; e-mail: [email protected]).