Private International Law Act No. 218/1995 provides – as a general rule – for the automatic effectiveness in Italy of foreign judgments that meet some basic requirements of compatibility with the Italian legal system. An exception is made for the recognition in Italy of foreign judgments on the adoption of minors, for which please consult the dedicated section (sezione).
Foreign judgments shall be registered with the competent Italian Municipality.
Foreign judgments, legalised and translated into Italian, can be submitted for registration in Italy:
- to the Italian Municipality, directly by the person concerned;
- or to the Italian Consulate in the district of which the judgment was issued.
With a view to requesting registration, a valid identity document shall be shown and the following documents shall be provided:
- application for transmission of the judgment in the form of a declaration in lieu of affidavit made pursuant to Article 47 of Presidential Decree No. 445/2000, certifying the existence of the requirements set forth in Article 64 of Law No. 218/1995 and stating that the judgment is not contrary to other judgments pronounced by an Italian judge and that no proceedings are pending before an Italian judge for the same subject matter and between the same parties;
- full copy of the judgement complete with the requirements under Article 64, duly legalised and translated.
For the registration of divorce decrees issued in an EU country reference is made to the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 2201/2003 of November 27, 2003. The competent authority of the Member State in which divorce was pronounced shall issue, at the request of the party concerned, a certificate using the standard form provided for by the aforementioned Regulation, which does not need to be translated and shall not be legalised. The party concerned shall show a valid identity document and attach to the aforementioned certificate a declaration in lieu of affidavit made pursuant to Article 47 of Presidential Decree No. 445/2000, certifying the existence of the requirements set out in Article 22 of the aforementioned Regulation.
It is in any case advisable to contact the competent diplomatic or consular Representation in advance for further details, or to find out about additional requirements provided for by any bilateral or multilateral agreements.