Debt enforcement, insolvency, courts and prosecutors

The LEF and the Italian codes

Switzerland collects money debts through a federal statute that has no Italian equivalent: the Federal Act on Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy of 11 April 1889, called in Italian Legge federale sulla esecuzione e sul fallimento (LEF) and in German Bundesgesetz über Schuldbetreibung und Konkurs (SchKG). Its distinctive feature is that enforcement begins without any prior judgment. Article 38(2) LEF states that enforcement "comincia con la notificazione del precetto esecutivo e si prosegue in via di pignoramento o di realizzazione del pegno, oppure in via di fallimento" (begins with the service of the payment order and continues by way of seizure, realization of a pledge or bankruptcy).¹ The procedure is administered by cantonal debt enforcement and bankruptcy offices, which in Ticino are organized in a Sezione di esecuzione e fallimento of the cantonal Department of Institutions, and supervised by the Camera di esecuzione e fallimenti of the Tribunale d'appello.²

Italian law knows no such general administrative procedure. A creditor who lacks an enforceable title must first obtain one, either through ordinary proceedings or through the summary procedimento d'ingiunzione, in which a court issues a decreto ingiuntivo on documentary evidence. Enforcement proper (esecuzione forzata) is regulated in the third book of the Codice di procedura civile and is conducted under the supervision of the court. Insolvency is governed since the reform of 2019 by the Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza, which replaced the bankruptcy law of 1942 and, with it, the term fallimento. The Italian procedure that a Swiss lawyer would call fallimento is now the liquidazione giudiziale, applicable under Art. 121 of the Code to commercial entrepreneurs above the thresholds of small enterprises who are in a state of insolvency.³ A Swiss document that speaks of the "fallimento" of an Italian company after 2022 therefore uses a term that Italian law has abandoned, while an Italian lawyer who reads "fallimento" in a Swiss text should remember that Swiss bankruptcy is administered by an office and only opened by the court.

Precetto esecutivo and atto di precetto

The precetto esecutivo is the Swiss payment order (German Zahlungsbefehl, French commandement de payer). The debt enforcement office issues it at the request of the creditor, on the basis of the creditor's own statements and without examining whether the claim exists. The debtor may lodge an objection (opposizione) within ten days of service, without giving reasons, at the competent office. If he does so, the creditor must ask a court to set the objection aside (rigetto dell'opposizione), either definitively on the basis of a judgment or provisionally on the basis of an acknowledgement of debt, or he must sue in ordinary proceedings.⁴ The federal supervisory authority's information sheet summarizes the function of the document in one sentence: "Con il presente precetto esecutivo s'ingiunge al debitore di pagare gli importi indicati" (by this payment order the debtor is ordered to pay the amounts indicated).

The Italian precetto is a different act. Article 480(1) c.p.c. defines it as "l'intimazione di adempiere l'obbligo risultante dal titolo esecutivo entro un termine non minore di dieci giorni ... con l'avvertimento che, in mancanza, si procederà a esecuzione forzata" (the order to perform the obligation resulting from the enforceable title within a period of not less than ten days, with the warning that enforcement will otherwise follow).⁵ The Italian precetto thus presupposes an enforceable title, such as a judgment, an enforceable decreto ingiuntivo or certain notarial deeds and bills of exchange, and announces the enforcement that follows. The Swiss precetto esecutivo presupposes nothing and can be issued for any alleged claim. An Italian client who receives a Swiss precetto esecutivo may therefore believe that a court has already decided against him, while an Italian lawyer may advise that the document has no force because no title has been served. Both readings are wrong. The correct reaction is an opposizione within ten days, failing which the creditor may request the continuation of the enforcement. Conversely, a Ticinese creditor who reads an Italian atto di precetto must understand that it marks the last step before seizure, because the title on which it rests already exists.

Notes

1. Federal Act of 11 April 1889 on Debt Enforcement and Bankruptcy (DEBA), SR 281.1, Art. 38(2), Italian text (Legge federale sulla esecuzione e sul fallimento, LEF), https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/filestore/fedlex.data.admin.ch/eli/cc/11/529_488_529/20250101/it/ html/fedlex-data-admin-ch-eli-cc-11-529_488_529-20250101-it-html-3.html. ↩
2. Canton of Ticino, Divisione della giustizia, https://www4.ti.ch/di/dg/ (Sezione di esecuzione e fallimento); Canton of Ticino, "Tribunale d'appello", https://www4.ti.ch/poteri/giudiziario/tribunale-dappello (Camera di esecuzione e fallimenti). ↩
3. Brocardi.it, "Art. 121 Codice della crisi d'impresa e dell'insolvenza" (above). The Code applied in full from 15 July 2022 after several postponements; the earlier bankruptcy law was Regio Decreto 16 marzo 1942, n. 267. ↩
4. Federal supervisory authority for debt enforcement and bankruptcy, Foglio informativo sul precetto esecutivo (1 March 2020), published by the debt enforcement office of the Canton of Thurgau, https://betreibungsamt.tg.ch/public/upload/assets/92742/Foglio%20informativo%20sul %20precetto%20esecutivo%20it.pdf. ↩
5. Codice di procedura civile, Art. 480(1), text at Avvocato Andreani, https://www.avvocatoandreani.it/servizi/codice-procedura-civile/art-480-cpc.html. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of August 2025.