Italian insolvency for UK creditors: what to do after Brexit
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In short: if an Italian customer enters insolvency, file your claim quickly under Italian rules. The EU Insolvency Regulation gives "foreign creditors" rights to lodge claims and to be informed, but defines them as creditors in another Member State, and the UK is no longer one. In a liquidazione giudiziale a claim is filed at least 30 days before the hearing.
Part of the guide Checking an Italian company: a guide for UK businesses after Brexit. All guides: Guides.
What the EU Regulation says, and who it covers
- Regulation (EU) 2015/848, art. 53: "any foreign creditor may lodge claims" in insolvency proceedings by any means accepted by the law of the State of opening, and a lawyer is not mandatory only to lodge claims. Art. 54: the court or insolvency practitioner must inform known foreign creditors immediately (EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2015/848 on insolvency proceedings).
- Art. 2(12) defines a foreign creditor as one with habitual residence, domicile or registered office "in a Member State other than the State of the opening of proceedings" (EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2015/848 on insolvency proceedings).
- The version of the Regulation maintained on legislation.gov.uk defines "Member State" as an EU member state other than Denmark, and omits articles 6 to 83 (SI 2019/146) (legislation.gov.uk: Regulation 2015/848 as maintained in the UK, art. 2, legislation.gov.uk: The Insolvency (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019). A UK creditor is therefore not within the wording of arts. 53 and 54.
Italian procedure
The “Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza” (D.Lgs. 14/2019) applies to the crisis or insolvency of consumers, professionals and entrepreneurs (art. 1) (Normattiva: D.Lgs. 14/2019, Italian insolvency code (arts. 1 and 2)). In the liquidazione giudiziale, art. 201 requires a claim to be filed by ricorso "at least thirty days before the hearing" for examining the list of claims, sent to the curator's certified email (PEC) (Normattiva: D.Lgs. 14/2019, art. 201 (claims in the liquidazione giudiziale)). Check the dates in the notice you receive and ask an Italian lawyer to act at once.
Spotting trouble before it arrives
Protests and insolvency proceedings are public signals. Negatività e procedure concorsuali (€5.90) reports them with source and date; Verifica (€19) includes protests and insolvency signals among its checks.
Every company product comes with a free Check anti-truffa (anti-scam check): it looks at the VAT number in the EU VIES register, free webmail or disposable email, domain age, domains flagged for malware or phishing, SPF and DMARC protection, the VAT number shown on the website, data breaches affecting the site, and whether the IBAN is correctly written and from a country consistent with the company.
The service and the report are in Italian, and they come from Italian official sources: company names, offices and procedures keep their original Italian wording. Veryfy does not offer a translated report.
Frequently asked questions
Can a UK creditor use arts. 53 and 54 of the EU Insolvency Regulation?
By its wording the Regulation protects creditors in a Member State other than the one opening proceedings, and the UK-maintained text limits Member State to EU states other than Denmark. A UK creditor should not rely on those articles.
What is a liquidazione giudiziale?
It is the liquidation procedure of the Italian “Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza” (D.Lgs. 14/2019). The Code covers consumers, professionals and entrepreneurs in crisis or insolvency.
What is the deadline to file a claim?
Art. 201 of D.Lgs. 14/2019 says a claim is filed at least thirty days before the hearing for examining the list of claims, by ricorso sent to the curator's certified email. Check the dates in your notice with an Italian lawyer.
Sources
Official sources opened and read on 2026-10-24.
- EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2015/848 on insolvency proceedings
- legislation.gov.uk: Regulation 2015/848 as maintained in the UK, art. 2
- legislation.gov.uk: The Insolvency (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019
- Normattiva: D.Lgs. 14/2019, Italian insolvency code (arts. 1 and 2)
- Normattiva: D.Lgs. 14/2019, art. 201 (claims in the liquidazione giudiziale)
General information, not legal advice. Sources verified on 2026-10-24.
Frequently asked questions
Can a UK creditor use arts. 53 and 54 of the EU Insolvency Regulation?
By its wording the Regulation protects creditors in a Member State other than the one opening proceedings, and the UK-maintained text limits Member State to EU states other than Denmark. A UK creditor should not rely on those articles.
What is a liquidazione giudiziale?
It is the liquidation procedure of the Italian “Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza” (D.Lgs. 14/2019). The Code covers consumers, professionals and entrepreneurs in crisis or insolvency.
What is the deadline to file a claim?
Art. 201 of D.Lgs. 14/2019 says a claim is filed at least thirty days before the hearing for examining the list of claims, by ricorso sent to the curator's certified email. Check the dates in your notice with an Italian lawyer.
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