Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that the Italian government had exceeded its legislative authority in making mediation a mandatory precursor to trial. The Court’s ruling on Legislative Decree no. 28 (2010) from 24 October 2012 is limited to provisions concerning mandatory mediation.
The press release merely states that an Act of Parliament, rather than an Act of Government, is required to lawfully implement mandatory mediation. The ruling caused a lot of discussions among Italian lawyers practicing mediation. At the same time EU countries became very interested in Italy’s ap-proach to mediation.