Client in negotiated settlement (composizione negoziata) of the crisis: what to do if you are the supplier

In short: the negotiated settlement is a procedure with an independent expert, not an insolvency procedure. Your client has not gone bankrupt and continues to run the business. If it requests the protective measures, from their publication in the Registro Imprese you cannot start enforcement actions or acquire non-agreed security interests, and you cannot refuse or terminate ongoing contracts solely for unpaid pre-existing receivables (arts. 18-19 CCII). For new orders, it is advisable to ask for payment in advance or on delivery.

How do you find out that a client has applied for a negotiated settlement?

In three ways, and the first is the most reliable. The entrepreneur files the application to appoint the expert through the national electronic platform (art. 17 CCII). If it also requests the protective measures, the application is published in the Registro Imprese together with the expert's acceptance (art. 18, para. 1): that is where you will find it, in the "Dissolution, insolvency procedures, cancellation" block of the company extract, Codice della Crisi section.

1. Registro Imprese company extract: the publication appears only if the protective measures have been requested. Without this request, the sources consulted show no publication.
2. Notice from the client: it is often the client who tells you, to explain delays or to ask you to renegotiate.
3. Contact from the expert: the expert meets the other interested parties when there are concrete prospects of recovery (art. 17).

One limitation: the national electronic platform is the tool the entrepreneur uses to file the application; the sources consulted show that it is not accessible to creditors. The verifiable data for you is what is published in the Registro Imprese. To monitor more clients, Sentinella costs 39€ per month for 5 companies.

What is the negotiated settlement and how does it differ from a composition with creditors (concordato)?

It is a process in which an expert, third party with respect to all the parties, acts with independence, impartiality and confidentiality and helps the entrepreneur find a solution suited to overcoming the crisis. The entrepreneur remains in charge of the business; it must represent its situation fully and transparently and manage its assets and business without unfairly prejudicing creditors (art. 16, para. 4). The mandate lasts 180 days from acceptance and can continue for no more than another 180 days, if the entrepreneur or the parties request it and the expert consents, or if appeals or measures are pending before the court (art. 17).

For the composition with creditors (concordato preventivo), see client in composition with creditors: what to do.

What do the protective measures block (arts. 18-19 CCII)?

The measures may concern all creditors, specific actions, particular creditors or categories. Employees' receivables are excluded from the measures (art. 18, para. 1). From the day of publication:

• the creditors concerned may not acquire security interests, unless agreed with the entrepreneur, nor start or continue enforcement and precautionary actions over the entrepreneur's assets or business property (art. 18, para. 3);
• limitation periods remain suspended and forfeitures do not occur; payments are not barred (art. 18, para. 3);
• compulsory liquidation cannot be ordered until the negotiations conclude or the file is closed, unless the measures are revoked (art. 18, para. 4);
• creditors may not unilaterally refuse performance of pending contracts, terminate them, bring forward their expiry or modify them to the entrepreneur's detriment merely because receivables arising before the publication are unpaid (art. 18, para. 5).

The protection is neither automatic nor unlimited. The entrepreneur must file the petition by the day after the publication; if it does not, the measures become ineffective. The court sets the hearing and decides by order: the initial duration of the measures is not less than thirty nor more than one hundred and twenty days, and the total duration cannot exceed two hundred and forty days (art. 19). The judge can revoke them at the request of the entrepreneur, of one or more creditors, or on the expert's report.

Can you stop supplying the client?

It depends on when and under which contract. The rule in art. 18, para. 5 concerns pending contracts, that is, contracts already in progress at the publication. There is an exception: from the publication until the court confirms the measures, you may suspend performance of pending contracts. After confirmation, you may not refuse it or terminate the contract solely because the pre-existing receivables are unpaid.

How do you protect yourself on new supplies?

1. Payment in advance or on delivery: the simplest protection. Payments are not barred by the measures (art. 18, para. 3).
2. Prompt payment for new supplies: separate in your accounts what precedes the publication from what follows it.
3. Document everything: contracts, order confirmations, delivery notes (DDT), invoices and payment reminders.
4. Priority claim (prededuzione): art. 22 allows the court, at the entrepreneur's request, to authorise financing in any form, including with guarantees, for priority purposes, and the priority operates whatever the outcome of the negotiated settlement, in subsequent enforcement or insolvency procedures (para. 1-ter). It concerns what the court authorises: for ordinary supplies, do not rely on it without having verified it with your lawyer.

To understand whether the client is already in a risky zone before the negotiated settlement, read signs of a client's insolvency before non-payment and business crisis indicators.

What do you do if the expert contacts you?

The expert checks the consistency of the information by requesting further data from the entrepreneur and from creditors (art. 16, para. 2). The parties must cooperate in good faith and promptly, are bound by confidentiality regarding the entrepreneur's situation and the ongoing initiatives, and must respond to proposals and requests promptly and with reasons (art. 16, para. 6). In practice:

1. prepare the statement of account for the receivable: invoices, due dates, reminders, payments received;
2. respond within the times indicated, giving your reasons;
3. do not disclose to others what you learn about the negotiations;
4. evaluate the proposals (instalment plans, reductions, new conditions) with your lawyer or accountant before accepting them;
5. the expert may invite the parties to renegotiate in good faith contracts whose performance has become excessively onerous (art. 17): consider this too.

What happens if the negotiations fail?

If no concrete prospects of recovery emerge, the expert reports this and the secretary general of the Chamber of Commerce orders the closure within five working days. The debtor cannot file a new application before one year has passed (four months if it requests the closure within two months of the acceptance) (art. 17). At the conclusion, if protective measures had been granted, the judge declares their cessation; with revocation or cessation, the prohibition on acquiring non-agreed security interests lapses (art. 19, para. 8).

If, instead, a solution is found, art. 23 provides, among others, for a contract with one or more creditors, a standstill agreement (convenzione di moratoria), an agreement signed by the parties and the expert, as well as an attested recovery plan (piano attestato di risanamento), a restructuring agreement (accordo di ristrutturazione), a simplified composition with creditors (concordato semplificato) or other procedures of the Code. If the client ultimately moves to compulsory liquidation, your receivable follows a different path: filing a claim in the insolvency (insinuazione al passivo). Also check the payments you received in the preceding months: clawback of payments (revocatoria).

The general framework of the Code and of the other tools is in Business Crisis Code: what changes for suppliers and clients; data on opened proceedings are in the bankruptcy and liquidation observatory.

For accountants. If one of your clients is a supplier to a company in negotiated settlement, you can prepare its position with a targeted check: the Negative records check at 5.90€ for protests and procedures, or the Verification report at 19€ for the complete picture of the company. Veryfy works without a subscription and without registration: you pay for the single check.

Sources

• Brocardi.it, Business Crisis Code, art. 16 (accessed 11/11/2026)
• Brocardi.it, Business Crisis Code, art. 17 (accessed 11/11/2026)
• Brocardi.it, Business Crisis Code, art. 18 (accessed 11/11/2026)
• Brocardi.it, Business Crisis Code, art. 19 (accessed 11/11/2026)
• Brocardi.it, Business Crisis Code, art. 22 (accessed 11/11/2026)
• Brocardi.it, Business Crisis Code, art. 23 (accessed 11/11/2026)
• Registro Imprese, Business Crisis Code and insolvency procedures (accessed 11/11/2026)

For the law, the official text in the Gazzetta Ufficiale prevails: the text was consulted on Brocardi.it, which is not an official source. Veryfy is not affiliated with Brocardi.it.