Italian bankruptcy law — Royal Decree No. 267 of 16 March 1942 — (the Bankruptcy Law) underwent a substantial reform between 2005 and 20091, mainly aimed at introducing (i) a more efficient regulation of the pre-bankruptcy agreement procedure (concordato preventivo)2 and (ii) new pre-bankruptcy schemes of arrangements, in the form of the out-of-court debt restructuring plan (piano attestato di risanamento)3 and the debt restructuring agreement (accordo di ristrutturazione dei debiti)4.

Since 2005, pushed by the insolvencies and rescues of large Italian corporations such as Parmalat, Cirio and Alitalia, the Italian legislature has introduced effective tools aimed at preserving the debtor’s assets and ensuring the successful reorganisation of a debtor’s business to the benefit of all the parties involved.

During the last few years, Italian bankruptcy law has been shifting from a traditional "procedural/judicial" model, based on the central role of courts called upon to safeguard the "public interest" involved in bankruptcy by actively directing the procedure and making the most important decisions, to a model that recognizes the private interests of creditors. Under the new paradigm, creditors are conferred with decisional powers, while courts maintain a principally supervisory role.

Overview of Insolvency Rules and Restructuring Procedures Pursuant to Italian Bankruptcy Law

On August 26, 2011 the Italian Supreme Court issued the decision no. 32899 stating that shareholders of a company will commit an offence if they unreasonably provide funds to a company in distress, rather than proceeding with the immediate liquidation of the company.

In an effort to re-­launch the economic growth, with Law Decree No. 83/2012 (so called “Decree on Development”) the Italian government, inter alia, implemented several significant changes to Italian Bankruptcy Law (legge fallimentare).

Law Decree No. 83/2012, providing “Urgent Measures for the Country's Development”

Law Decree No. 83 of 22 June 2012 (the “Decree”), effective as from 26 June 2012 and converted into law with amendments1, has introduced important measures aimed at stimulating the Italian economy (also referred to as “Decreto Sviluppo”).

The Decree, consisting of seventy articles, sets forth a heterogeneous set of rules, including, among other provisions, significant amendments to the Italian Bankruptcy Law.2

Con l’art. 33 del D.L. 22 giugno 2012 n. 831 il legislatore ha ampliato il novero delle ipotesi in cui le perdite su crediti iscritte in bilancio sono deducibili ai fini delle imposte sui redditi ed esteso agli accordi di ristrutturazione dei debiti omologati e ai piani attestati di risanamento la disciplina dell’irrilevanza impositiva delle sopravvenienze attive realizzate dall’impresa debitrice in relazione alla riduzione dei debiti nell’ambito delle procedure concorsuali.

The procedure of composition with creditors aimed at business continuity (“concordato preventivo con continuità aziendale”, provided by art. 186-bis of the Bankruptcy Law) has a major impact on the rules governing public contracts, above all with reference to the requirements requested both for the participation of economic operators in the public tender procedures and for their capacity to enter into agreements with public entities.

Italian Decree 134/2008, which suspended competition law for crisis buyouts, thereby allowing the merger of Alitalia and Air One, has been called into question following a claim of unconstitutionality brought by consumer association Federconsumatori, Italian airline Meridiana, its subsidiary Eurofly and the province of Milan. The question of whether the Decree potentially violates Article 3 on equal treatment and Article 41 on freedom of economic activity has now been referred to the Italian Constitutional Court.