1. Costs - No Win No Fee! 

Having long standing relationships with all our overseas partners we have agreements to provide these services on a NO WIN NO FEE basis charging the agreed commission rate against monies recovered only. 

2. Coverage in Italy 

Italy is subdivided into 20 regions with the capital city in Rome. Our local office is in Modena where we recover debts throughout all of Italy. 

3. Local Experience 

Unlike many of our competitors all cases are handled by the local office or partner. The reasons for this are they speak the debtors' language, in this case Italian is spoken by the majority of the population. We understand the local cultures and know all the legal processes. These are reasons why Creditreform are the ideal people to help you in collecting debts from overseas. 

4. Statute of Limitation in Italy 

5-10 years but there are special exemptions so whatever the age please contact us and we will advise if we can assist with your claim 
Search a country below for debt collection: 

How to Instruct Us 

We simply require the following details: 
Full name & address of the debtor 
All available contact details of the debtor i.e. contact name(s) / Tel / Mobile / Email(s) 
Amount owed (Invoice(s) or Statement will help) 
PLEASE CALL US ON +44 121 442 5330 FOR FURTHER DETAILS 
Or ask us to call you – just leave us your details: 

Case Study - EUR 13,500 recovered from Italian Debtor 

Initiation of Case 
 
A regular UK client located in Newport, Wales had a debt of EUR 13,500 against a debtor in Sovicille (near Florence), Italy. The debt related to frozen products provided. Client chased for payment through their normal credit control processes but despite a number of reminders the debt remained unsettled. The debt case was then outsourced to Creditreform. 
 
Debt Collection Process 
 
Upon receipt of the case we forwarded it to our local Creditreform office in Italy. They then immediately sent the initial debt collection letter to the debtor stating the amount owed and a deadline to pay. The debtor initially ignored our partner so they entered an intense collection process and the debt was then settled in full. 
 
Summary 
 
The client again was extremely pleased with the efficiency and professionalism of the services provided and the regular updates they received throughout the debt collection process. 

Italy Debt Collection – No Win No Fee 

Creditreform operates a global specialist International debt collections service. We have local offices and fully approved expert international debt collection agency partners in every country worldwide. All our International debt collection agency partners and offices operate on a No Win No Fee basis charging an agreed commission against monies recovered only. All our international offices and partners initiate the collection processes by sending the debtors a debt collection letter to introduce their involvement. 
 
Main reasons why a local country debt recovery agency is so important rather than trying to recover from a debt collection agency UK are as follows: 
 
The local International Debt collection Partners know: 
 
The local cultures 
The best methods of initiating debt recovery letters and processes 
The languages 
The laws 
Are in the same time zones 
 
Herewith details of our debt collection service Italy: 

Location of debt recovery office in Italy? 

Modena, Italy. All debt collection letters are sent by the local head office. 

Number of debt collection staff? 

20-30 staff. Each staff member is allocated a client and all their debt collection letters are personalised in order to effect the best response result s from debtors. 

How long have you been operating a debt recovery service in Italy? 

We have been operating a European debt collection service on a no win no fee basis in Italy for over 30 years. Italy is included on our debt collection agency list

What type of debt collection services do you provide? Do you do commercial debt recovery (B2B) and consumer debt recovery (B2C)? 

We handle both Business to Business debt recovery cases and Business to Consumer debt collections cases. There is different content for business to business debt collection letter templates and business to consumer debt collection letters templates

Statue of Limitation in Italy? 

5-10 years for Italy. 
 
Italy civil litigation statute of limitations is a law that time limits a plaintiff’s right to bring a claim against a defendant. The statute of limitations in Italy is 10 years. However, if an action has been taken within this time then the statute of limitations time will be extended to account for this. Once the specified time period elapses then no action can be taken through the legal processes unless the plaintiff is able to prove exceptional circumstances. Other Statute of Limitations include: 
 
Italy Open Account Years – 10 years 
Italy Promissory Notes – 10 years 
Italy Written Contracts – 10 years 
Italy Oral Agreements – 10 years 

How EU (European Union) laws effect debt collection in Italy? 

Fully governed by the EU. 
 
Italy has been a European Union (EU) member country since 1958, Euro area member since 1999 and Schengen area member since 1997. 

How many companies registries in Italy for businesses (i.e. UK has just 1 central registry)? 

There is one Trade registry in Italy 
 
General comments regarding the process in Italy for debt collection and how differs from UK debt collection and other European countries: 

What is the debt collection process in Italy? 

Pre-court debt collection processes including debt recovery letters, telephone calls, emails and site visits if necessary. 

Average length of time to collect a debt? 

Depends on the size, age and whether there are any disputes. 
 
The average time taken to recover a Italy B2B debt collection case varies from case to case. 

Can late payment fees / interest to be added to claims? 

Yes, fees can be added for Italy debt collection cases according to local law. 

Details on legal service / process in Italy? 

Operates a similar court system to the UK 

Italy Business Credit Reports 

Creditreform provides over 88 million international business credit reports throughout Europe and 200 million international business credit reports worldwide. There are just over six millions companies in the Italian Business Register. These include: 
 
1,200,000 Limited Companies 
 
1,200,000 Partnerships Companies 
 
3,700,000 Individual Companies. 
 
Through our online databases you can download Italian business credit reports instantly. This can be done prior to trading to make sure the company you will be dealing with can meet the commitment or once the debt becomes overdue to ensure the debtor can meet the amount owed. 

Italy Business Credit Reports 

Creditreform provides over 88 million international business credit reports throughout Europe and 200 million international business credit reports worldwide. We provide freshly investigated Italy Credit Reports which can be done prior to trading to make sure the company you will be dealing with can meet the commitment or once the debt becomes overdue to ensure the debtor can meet the amount owed. 

Italy Skip Tracing Agents 

Creditreform’s debt collection company service also uses expert local Italy tracing agent services to locate any absconded debtor. This debtor tracing service is provided on a No Find No Fee basis only charging for a successful trace. 

Specialist Debt Recovery Experts 

There are many unique requirements to recovering international debts in all countries including Italy debt collection services which differ from the UK debt collection agency services and therefore it is very important that cases are handled directly by our expert international debt collection agencies and not from debt collectors UK. This method of international debt collection sets Creditreform aside from the competition who in many cases try and recover debts from a UK debt collector only. Using the local offices and partners enables us to achieve a far greater success rate and our No Win No Fee service together with competitive commission rates against monies recovered only ensures you get the best service. 

European Payment Order in Italy 

The Italian Code of Civil Procedure (Codice di procedura civile) lists an order for payment procedure (procedimento di ingiunzione) This is an order for payment made by the court following the plaintiff (Creditor) application. The defendant (debtor) has no involvement at this stage but has the right to challenge was the payment order has been made. 
 
The order for payment is subject to certain conditions set out in the Civil Code (Codice civile), and the plaintiff must provide written proof of the claim. 
If the court finds in favour of the plaintiff then the defendant has a time limit in which to either pay the debt or challenge it. This time frame is normally 40 days and if no objection is filed then the claim can be enforced. 
 
There is no upper limit for an Order of Payment to be requested. An order for payment may be sought for claims having any value. 

What language should the application be made in Italy? 

All actions it must be made in the Italian language. In general legal actions should be made in writing in the language of the country where the debtor is located. There are some actions which can be made orally but it would still have to be spoken in Italian. 

What Courts are used in Italy? 

There are two main court systems in Italy being The Civil Court and the Criminal Courts. There are also Specialised Courts 
Civil courts are used for debt claims and disputes. They are split into three main court procedures: 
 
Justices of the peace (giudici di pace) are ‘honorary’ or non‑permanent judges (giudici onorari) who preside over small and minor procedures. 
The lower tier of courts (tribunali) are courts of in all other disputes. They also hear appeals against the decisions made by the justices of the peace. 
Juvenile courts (tribunali per i minorenni) and juvenile divisions of the courts of appeal (sezioni per i minorenni delle corti di appello) preside over cases relating to young people (children) 
 
There are also divisions (sezioni) of the lower courts and of the courts of appeal specialising in employment and work related claims and issues. 
The courts of appeal (corti di appello) are courts of second instance. 
 
The Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione or Corte Suprema di Cassazione) is based in Rome. It is the supreme court in the Italian judicial system, and oversees judgments of other courts and makes sure they have been undertaken in accordance with the Italian law. 
 
Specialised courts 
With regard to matters of civil law in Italy the courts are divided into ‘ordinary’ and ‘administrative’ courts. 
 
The administrative courts have jurisdiction to protect legitimate interests and individual rights against government departments. The administrative courts are the Regional Administrative Court (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale – TAR), which is the court of first instance, and the Council of State (Consiglio di Stato), which is the appeal court. The Code of Administrative Justice (codice di giustizia amministrativa). The Code of Administrative Justice (CGA) is available free of charge in French, English and German. The ordinary courts have jurisdiction in cases involving ‘individual rights’. 
 
There is also the Court of Auditors (Corte dei conti). This presides over matters relating to the public accounting and other specified accounting issues by law. The Code of Accounting Justice (codice di giustizia contabile) is contained in Legislative Decree No 174/2016 (decreto legislativo n. 174 del 2016). 
 
Italy also has tax courts, and their rules of procedure are laid down in Legislative Decree No 546/1992 (decreto legislativo n. 546 del 1992). Tax jurisdiction is exercised by the Provincial Tax Courts (Commissioni Tributarie Provinciali – CTP), which are the courts of first instance, and by the Regional Tax Courts (Commissioni Tributarie Regionali – CTR), which are the appeal courts. The tax courts preside over all disputes relating to taxes of any kind including taxes and contributions paid to the Italian National Health Service (Servizio sanitario nazionale), 

Mediation (Alternative Dispute Resolution - ADR) in Italy 

As claims and disputes brought to the courts are ever increasing there are longer waiting periods to reach a resolution. Also legal costs have increased and can become disproportionate to the value of the claim. 
 
As a result of the above Mediation has become faster and cheaper than ordinary court proceedings. This is especially true in countries such as Italy where the court system has substantial backlogs and the average court proceeding takes can take many months and years to resolve. 
More and more plaintiffs are reverting to the Mediation and even some courts are urging this process to be taken initially to reduce the pressures on the court system. 
In Italy Mediation is a system of civil and commercial process aimed at settling disputes in and was introduced in by Legislative Order (decreto legislativo) No 28/2010. 
 
Mediation services are provided by specialist private or public mediation organisations who arelisted on the register of mediation organisations (registro degli organismi di mediazione) which is held by the Ministry of Justice. 
 
Mediation organisations provide and arbitratory service to achieve an out of court settlement for various civil disputes. 
 
Rules governing mediation in civil and commercial maters are currently laid down in Legislative Order No 28/2010 and in Ministerial Order (decreto ministeriale) No 180/2010. 
A person wishing to become a mediator must satisfy the requirements laid down in Article 4(3)(b) of Ministerial Order No 18/2010: in particular, they must hold a degree or diploma at least equivalent to a university degree following three years of study, or in the alternative be a member of a professional association or organisation and have completed at least two‑yearly refresher courses with training providers accredited by the Ministry of Justice, and in the course of the two‑year retraining period they must have taken part as assisted trainees in at least twenty cases of mediation. 
 
The mediation fees (indennità di mediazione), which comprises of the fee for initiating the procedure and the fee for mediation service, are laid down in Ministerial Order No 180/2010. They vary depending on the amount in dispute. 
 
Article 12 of Legislative Order No 28/2010 states that the record of the agreement, provided it is not contrary to public policy or to overriding rules of law, is to be approved, on application by either party, by the president of the lower court (tribunale) in whose district the mediation organisation is based. In the case of a cross‑border dispute of the kind referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, the record of the agreement is to be approved by the president of the lower court in whose district the agreement is to be implemented. 

Can Statutory Interest Rate be added in Italy? 

There are a number of interest claims that can be made under Italian law including ordinary interest, default interest and compensatory interest. 
 
Ordinary interest relates amounts that would have accrued if the debt was settled on time and is governed by official bank rates. Default interest relates to compensation and is incurred for late payment, following the service of an official notice for payment on the debtor. Compensatory interest must be paid where the debtor is late paying the amounts owed to the creditor. The statutory interest charged is laid down by the law for pecuniary obligations; from the date of the day after the sum falls due, the debtor is required to pay the creditor statutory interest (Article 1224(I) of the Civil Code (Codice Civile)). Where interest was owed before the date of late payment which was higher than statutory interest, default interest of the same amount shall be due’. Any creditors that establish that they have suffered greater damage will receive further compensation (damage caused by monetary devaluation). 
 
Article 1282 of the Civil Code states that interest shall automatically be payable on claims on known amounts of monies due, unless otherwise provided for by law or the claim concerned. 
 
Under Article 1284 of the Civil Code the rate of statutory interest is determined on an annual basis by the Minister for Economic Affairs and Finance. Through a decree published in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic (Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana), the Minister changes the rate on the basis of the average annual yield of government bonds with a maximum term to maturity of 12 months, taking into account the inflation rate recorded over the year. This amount is set no later than 15 December of the year preceding the one to which the rate applies. If, by 15 December, the new rate has not been set, the existing one will remain unchanged for the following year. 
 
For delays in commercial transactions, an ad hoc EU rule applies, set out in national law in Legislative Decree No 231 of 9 October 2002, as amended by Legislative Decree No 192 of 9 November 2012, for the full transposition of Directive 2011/7/EU, in accordance with Article 10(1) of Law No 180 of 11 November 2011. If the parties have not decided on a rate, from the time that the document instituting proceedings is submitted the statutory interest rate will be equal to the rate envisaged by the special law concerning late payment in commercial transactions. This rule also applies to the act initiating arbitration proceedings. 

Italy Debt Collection Partners in the following Italian Cities: 

What is the legal system in Italy? 

The Italy legal system is based on Germanic civil law, with elements of the Napoleonic civil code. The civil code of 1942 replaced the original one of 1865. 

What is the name of the Government Gazette in Italy? 

The Gazette in Italy is called the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic - Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana. 

Which countries border Italy? 

Who are the main trading partners for Italy? 

The top trade markets for Italy are Germany, France, USA, Switzerland, UK, Spain, Belgium and Poland

What is the Supreme Court in Italy? 

The Supreme Courts for Italy are called 
The Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic (Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) which was established in 1948. 
The Supreme Court of Cassation (Corte Suprema di Cassazione) 

Italy Debt Collection Agency FAQs 

1. How does a Debt collection agency in Italy recover overdue debts? 

The debt collection process is initiated by an introductory letter to your debtor stating the amount owed to you and informing them of our involvement. Letters are then followed up with emails and telephone calls. From our experience the most effective part of this process will be the outsourcing to a third party debt collection agency in Italy as the debtor now has to resolve the debt and can no longer hide or provide lame excuses. 

2. How long does the debt recovery agency in Italy take to process a case? 

The debt collection case will be processed immediately up receipt and a letter sent normally by email and post. You will receive an automated confirmation by return. 

3. What is the success rate for debt collection agencies in Italy? 

The success rate of the debt recovery case depends on a number of factors including the solvency of the debtor and whether the case has a legitimate dispute. Our aim is to recover every debt that is recoverable. 

4. Does the debt recovery agency in Italy operate a No Win No Fee debt collection? 

We take on all debt collection cases on No Win No Fee basis only charging the agreed commission against monies recovered. 

5. Why use a local debt recovery agency in Italy? 

The reasons for using a local Italy debt collection agency than processing from a different country is the debt collector in Italy speaks the local language, knows the local laws and operates in the same time zones. 

6. Are there any debts too old or too small for Italy debt collection? 

We will assess all debt cases, irrelevant of age and size and then advise the best processes to recover these through the Italy debt collector. 

7. How do I instruct the debt collectors in Italy? 

Instructing the debt collectors Italy is a simple process. You just email details of the debt, debtor and amount to be recovered and the case can be initiated. 

8. What evidence do I need to provide when instructing the Italy debt collector? 

When instructing the debt collector in Italy just provide copies of invoices/statements, debtor contact details and any relevant information you may have to assist with the recovery process. 

9. Who does the debtor pay? 

In general the debt collector in Italy will request payments to be sent directly to the client but if not possible for any reasons will take payment directly. If payment is taken then cleared funds will be processed and sent to client straight away. 

10. Can I instruct multiple cases? 

You can send unlimited debt case instructions. Our systems will automate volume cases to meet your requirements. 

11. Can you trace debtors in Italy? 

Through our network of skip tracing agents we have an extremely high success rate of locating your absconded debtor. 

12. How long does the debt collection process take? 

On average the debt collections process takes 90 days to resolve an amicable debt recovery case. There are a number of factors that can delay this process but we will keep you informed every step of the way. 

13. What are my options if debt collection in Italy is not successful? 

If the debt recovery service is not successful we will advise you of your options including legal actions. Please note no legal actions or other processes will be taken without prior instruction from you. 
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