The Italian Government has approved the Legislative decree no. 19 of 2 March 2023 (the “Decree”) implementing in Italy the Directive (EU) 2019/2121 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019, amending the Directive (EU) 2017/1132 regarding, among other things, cross-border mergers, demergers and transformations.

On 23 January 2023, the Italian Income Revenue Authority (Agenzia delle Entrate) published its technical measures on the Registry of Non-Possessory Movable Pledges (the Registry) in the Official Journal. Non-possessory movable pledges are a form of security meant for entrepreneurs (and entrepreneurial entities) which – unlike regular pledges – do not imply the debtor’s dispossession.

Incorporating the principles contained in EU insolvency directives, the new Italian Insolvency Code affirms the goal of resolving crises in the least traumatic way possible for the business. This represents a fundamental innovation of the underlying philosophy of Italian insolvency law and the remedies envisaged for companies in distress so that they may successfully restructure their outstanding exposure. Below, we provide a general overview of the Insolvency Code and its key remedies.

The Insolvency Code in brief

On 17 October 2022, the Italian Supreme Court issued its judgment in case no. 30383, ruling on the liability actions brought by an insolvency practitioner against the statutory auditors. In particular, the Supreme Court ruled that an insolvency practitioner bringing a liability action against the statutory auditors must provide evidence of the existence of the damage, the relevant amount and the causal link existing between such damage and the unlawful conduct of the auditing body of the bankrupt company.

As the economic crisis continues to deepen, several of our contributors in South Europe have been focusing on matters relating to insolvency in the transport industry.

This edition will cover:

For many years, a discussion had been carried on about the lack of instruments in our legal system that could facilitate the emergence of company crises - before financial and asset difficulties lead to a state of irreversible bankruptcy of companies and consequently make it quicker to avail of solutions that would safeguard their characteristic assets.

On 12 January 2019, the Italian Government enacted Legislative Decree No. 14 (so called "business crisis and insolvency code (codice della crisi d’impresa e dell’insolvenza)", which entered into force on 15 July 2022 (the "Insolvency Code").

The Insolvency Code provides for, inter alia, the following:

On 19 September 2022, the Italian Supreme Court published Report No. 87/2022 concerning the new Code of Corporate Crisis and Insolvency (the “Code”). The Code was initially approved by Legislative Decree No. 14/2019, as amended, most recently by Legislative Decree No.

On 2 August 2022, the Italian Supreme Court issued its judgment in Case no. 23980 stating, inter alia, that the five-year period during which an innovative start-up (“start-up innovativa”) can benefit from the favourable regulation set forth in Law Decree no. 179 of 18 October 2012 shall start from the date of its incorporation.