Civil and criminal trials: the aim is to return to direct confrontation
The lawyers' demands (accepted by Minister Nordio) to revise the Cartabia reform could rest on two texts already presented in the Senate
Key points
Revise the Cartabia reform to put oral argument in court back at the centre of both civil and criminal trials. This is the request that the president of the National Forensic Council, Francesco Greco, made to the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, during the National Forensic Congress in mid-October. And which the Guardasigilli accepted, with a 'conditional yes: after the referendum we will put our hand to it and we want to do it by the end of the legislature', he told the lawyers. This intention was also confirmed, as far as civil justice is concerned, in the interview published in Il Sole 24 Ore on 14 November.
In detail, the demand for correction affects the procedures introduced by the civil justice (legislative decree 149/2022) and penal justice (legislative decree 150/2022) reforms, which have in fact stabilised the systems designed during the pandemic.
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Penal system
The change of pace will not be immediate. Greco himself has called for action to be taken only once Italy's observation period for the Pnrr targets is over, for which the deadline is 30 June 2026. But two bills have already been submitted to the Senate that could support the restoration of orality in the civil trial (Senate Act 1502, first signatory Erika Stefani, Lega) and in the criminal appeal trial (Senate Act 1217, first signatory Pierantonio Zanettin, Fi).
On the latter, presented in August 2024, the Justice Committee of Palazzo Madama has already started its examination. The text aims to intervene on the current discipline, introduced by the reform, which provides as a rule for the paper procedure with the decision in chambers of the court of appeal, while the oral hearing is limited to cases in which the parties request to participate in the trial (or if the court decides ex officio). A scheme overturned by the draft law, which provides that as a rule the appeal proceedings will be conducted with the participation of the parties: only the defendant may waive this right, requesting that the appeal be dealt with without the participation of the parties. The waiver may only be formalised in person or through a special prosecutor: a modality established, as stated in the report, 'to reinforce the awareness of the defendant's choice to waive his right'.
The committee's examination, which started in the spring with a round of hearings, was suspended at the end of May at the request of the government in order to avoid impacts on the NRP targets.
Brand connect
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