New York Convention Roadshow in Naples, Italy

ICCA’s first Italian New York Convention Roadshow has taken place in Naples, on 3-4 March 2014, jointly organized by ICCA, the Chamber of Arbitration of Milan and the Associazione Italiana per l’Arbitrato (the Italian Association for Arbitration). The event also had the support of the Scuola Superiore della Magistratura (the Italian training school for judges) and of the Italian Ministry of Justice. The speakers, all practitioners with outstanding experience as arbitrators, as well as counsels in international arbitration, delivered a two-day workshop on the New York Convention to an audience of approximately 30 judges from all over Italy, and included Professor Piero Bernardini, Professor Charles Jarrosson, Ms. Teresa Giovannini, Professor Luca Radicati di Brozolo and the moderator Professor Chiara Giovannucci.

The seminar started with a general overview on the Convention, its historical context and its basic principles by Prof. Bernardini and continued with the analysis of Articles I and II by Prof. Jarrosson, Articles III and IV by Ms. Giovannini and Articles V, VI and VII by Prof. Radicati. During their contributions, the speakers referred frequently to the Italian version of ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention, which was part of the material given to the participants. To conclude the workshop, the speakers engaged in an informal dialogue with the judges, focusing on the specific issues raised by the judges and debating possible solutions. In this way, the Italian New York Convention Roadshow achieved its purpose – providing the participants not only with theoretical guidelines on how to interpret the Convention, but also with practical direction on how to apply it in specific scenarios that are particularly relevant in the Italian experience.