Cross-border Debt Recovery Blog
by Marco Sposini
Laywer, Milan Bar Association
Worldwide debt recovery news
The Italian Supreme Court on jurisdiction between Italy and Tunisia in civil and commercial matters
16 March 2024
The Italian Supreme Court, by order No 6587/24, published on 12 March 2024, ruled that the provision referred to in Article 4 of the bilateral convention between Italy and Tunisia of 15 November 1967 is relevant only for the purposes of mutual recognition of judgments in civil and commercial matters, without dictating a general regulation of the distribution of jurisdiction in disputes involving the respective citizens.
The jurisdiction must be determined under Article 3(2) of Italian Law No 218 of 31 May 1995. It follows that, even if the defendant is not domiciled in a Member State of the European Union, in the case of one of the matters already covered by the Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968, the Italian courts have jurisdiction on the basis of the criteria laid down in Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, which replaced Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 and which, in turn, replaced the Convention.
Therefore, under Article 7(1)(b), first indent, of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, for all disputes arising from a contract of sale of goods, the Italian court has no jurisdiction, if the goods were delivered in Tunisia.
The text is available here