Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale), No. 86/2025, 26 June 2025

The contribution concerns a recent ruling by the Italian Constitutional Court about unrecognized associations. In particular, the Council was called upon to rule on the constitutional legitimacy of Article 2491, No. 7, of the Civil Code, in the part in which it does not provide for the suspension of the statute of limitations between unrecognized associations and their administrators, while they are in office, for liability actions against them. The constitutional judges considered the question to be well-founded, ruling that the rationale for the suspension is not linked to the legal personality of the entity.

Art. 18 Italian Civil Code

Art. 2941 Italian Civil Code

1. The provision of Article 2941, paragraph 1, no. 7, of the Italian Civil Code is constitutionally unlawful insofar as it does not include unrecognized associations among the entities for which prescription is suspended with regard to liability actions against administrators while they are on duty.

2. The exclusion of unrecognized associations from the suspension of prescription, provided for in Article 2941, paragraph 1, no. 7, of the Italian Civil Code, results in unreasonable unequal treatment both with respect to recognized associations and with respect to limited enterprises. In fact, even in the case of unrecognized associations, the rationale for the suspension of prescription applies, namely the difficulty for the entity to ascertain the wrongdoing of administrators and to take action against them while they are on duty.