GuideL1 · Court deadlines from acts and PEC
Italian court deadlines from served acts and PEC: how they are counted
A wrong deadline cannot be undone. The counting rules for the most common Italian civil terms, with the usual traps: August, Saturdays, the 9 pm PEC.
General information, not legal, tax or technical advice: for your own case, check the rules cited with a professional.
#The counting rules (art. 155 c.p.c.)
- The first day is not counted (c. 1).
- Terms in months follow the common calendar: the same day of the final month, or the month's last day if it has no such day.
- Holidays count inside the term (c. 3); but if the last day is a holiday or a Sunday, the deadline moves to the next non-holiday (c. 4).
- If the last day is a Saturday, for acts outside the hearing the deadline moves to the next non-holiday (c. 5).
The count uses the national holidays (1/1, 6/1, 25/4, 1/5, 2/6, 15/8, 1/11, 8/12, 25/12, 26/12, Easter Monday and, from 2026, 4 October) and Sundays. The court town's patron saint's day is not national: check it separately.
#The most common terms
| Act | Term |
|---|---|
| Appeal | 30 days from service of the judgment (artt. 325 c. 1 and 326 c.p.c.) |
| Appeal to the Court of Cassation | 60 days from service (artt. 325 c. 2 and 326) |
| Long term | 6 months from publication (art. 327), for proceedings begun after 4 July 2009 |
| Opposition to a payment order | 40 days from service; 50 if the debtor lives in another EU state, 60 elsewhere (artt. 641 and 645) — unless the order sets a different term |
| Statement of defence | at least 70 days before the hearing (artt. 166 and 167) |
| art. 171-ter briefs | at least 40, 20 and 10 days before the art. 183 hearing |
A court registry notice does not start the short term (art. 133 c. 2 c.p.c.): the long term remains.
#Backward terms
The defence and the briefs are counted back from the hearing, which is excluded. If the last day is a holiday or a Saturday, the term is brought forward to the previous working day: never moved later. If the judge postpones the hearing, the briefs must be recomputed.
#The August suspension
From 1 to 31 August court terms are suspended (art. 1 L. 742/1969):
- a term crossing August gains 31 days (judgment published 30/06: six months reach 30/12, plus 31 days, 30/01);
- if service falls in August, 1 September is the first day of the term;
- the suspension also applies to backward terms.
It does not apply to some matters: labour and social security, maintenance, interim measures, eviction, opposition to enforcement, insolvency. That is why the matter must always be given.
#Service by PEC
For the recipient, service is complete at the delivery receipt (art. 147 c.p.c.). If delivery happens after 9 pm, it is complete at 7 am the next day; a receipt a few minutes before 9 pm calls for caution. If the act states a different, earlier service date, count from that one and check the relata.
#Three worked examples
- Judgment served by PEC on 10 July: appeal by Wednesday 9 September, not 9 August — 30 days, suspended from 1 to 31 August.
- Payment order served on 27 August: 1 September is day one, the fortieth day is Saturday 10 October, the opposition must be served by Monday 12 October.
- Writ with the hearing on 26 January 2027: defence by 17 November, 171-ter briefs on 17 December, 5 January (the 6th is Epiphany) and 15 January (the 16th is a Saturday: brought forward).
#How the agent does it
The Court deadline calculator agent reads the PEC saved as .eml (or the act as PDF, .p7m or a scan with its relata) and the matter you give. The model reads the facts of the act; every date is computed by code, with the rule and the step-by-step computation, and where the law leaves a doubt it gives the more cautious date. Every deadline comes out to be confirmed by the lawyer, with the warnings (PEC after 9 pm, patron saint, matter to check), the .ics calendar and the e-mail ready for the office. It does not compute ricorsi and ordinanze: they depend on the procedure and must be checked.