Turin

Certification regulations in Italy

In Italy mediation is still not a regulated profession, as everyone may call himself/herself a mediator, on his/her own responsibility, anytime he/she “brings together two or more parties with a view to the closing of a deal, without being connected to any of them by virtue of a contractual relationship, employment or representation” as stated in Article 1754 of the Italian Civil Code. The deal the mediator helps parties to close may refer to a simple contract, a complex business transaction or the settlement of a dispute of either a civil or commercial nature. In this latter field mediation gained attention in the aftermath of the so called ADR movement that took place in the USA and was regulated by the Chambers of Commerce since 1994 through their Rules for the administration of mediation proceedings. Later on, civil and commercial mediation became the subject of a specific legal provision - Legislative Decree n. 28 of March 20, 2010 (D. Lgs. 28/2010, reinstated in 2013 and currently in force) - that regulates the service of mediation of civil and commercial disputes anytime the same law mandates its undertaking as a condition to access the courts or whenever parties to a dispute voluntary submit it to mediation. While that law provision does not expressly prohibits the parties to seek the assistance of a suitable third party to help them finding a deal outside of its scope, at present virtually all civil and commercial mediation proceedings in Italy are carried out under the rules set forth in D. Lgs. 28/2010.

Those rules require the administration of mediations services be provided only by legal entities, either public or private, that are registered with the Ministry of Justice, maintain a list of appointing mediators who were trained by likewise registered mediation training organizations through courses that shall comply with regulations set forth in Ministerial Decree n. 180 of 5 November 2010 (D.M. 180/2010). Under such provisions currently those people who want to provide mediation services for the scope of D. Lgs. 28/2010 hence be recognized as certified mediators, need to prove

• that they are compliant with the general requirements for becoming a civil and commercial mediators set forth in D.M. 180/2010
• that they have successfully completed a training course of at least 50 attendance hours including a 4 hours long final exam
• the content of which is precisely specified by same D.M. 180/2010.

With the successful completion of the 50-hour training, you fulfill the requirements for a training course in accordance with the said Decree. The related certificate of completion will entitle you to apply to up to five registered mediation providers for being enlisted in their Rosters of appointing mediators in view of being selected for an actual case. Please, note many of the mediation providers will ask the applicant to shadow one or more actual cases or provide other means of evidence of your actual suitability to serve as a mediator, prior to be considered for appointment.

Having said that, full participation into the IN-Medias training program will allow those who will express their willingness to get also formal recognition as certified mediators in Italy ("Mediatore civile e commerciale") to obtain advanced status to attend - free of charge - the first available basic training course (50 hours) that will be run by C.E.M. (registered at n. 166 of the Roster of training organizations held at Ministry of Justice) in Italian and delivered once the In-Medias training will end either in person or hybrid form (depending on the pertinent health regulations in force at that time).

You are then responsible for maintaining the title in accordance with the requirements of the D.M. 180/2010 and subsequent amendments through 20 further supervised practical cases and regular further training of not less than 18 hours biannually.