21 October, 2025
Last week, Supreme Court legal research counsels Reinis Odiņš, Ivars Čivčišs, Iveta Pundure, and Elīna Grigore-Bāra visited the Supreme Court of Cassation of Italy, the Council of State of Italy, and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT).
At the Supreme Court of Cassation of Italy, the main topics of discussion included measures for improving work efficiency in order to speed up the examination of cases and reduce the backlog of cases, as well as digitalization practices and the introduction of artificial intelligence tools. Representatives of the Supreme Court of Cassation of Italy also shared their experience on ensuring the accessibility of court decisions, as well as un using databases of legislation and case law in the court work (SentenzeWeb and ItalgiureWeb). It was also valuable to hear about the newly established procedures in the Italian Code of Civil Procedure, including the referral of preliminary questions to the Supreme Court of Cassation.
Representatives of the Council of State introduced the legal research counsels to the Italian administrative court system. The functions of the Council of State are defined in the Constitution of the Italian Republic, which are two: an advisory function to the government in the field of legislation, including the development of draft laws, and a judicial function – the Council of State is the highest court in Italy's two-tier administrative court system. The decisions of the Council of State may be appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation only on matters of jurisdiction. Interestingly, in Italy, administrative courts do not hear tax disputes, as these are dealt with by courts of general jurisdiction, whose decisions can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Cassation. During the meeting, specific issues regarding the application of interim measures and compensation for lost opportunities were also discussed.
UNIDROIT is an independent intergovernmental organization. Its purpose is to study the necessity and ways of modernizing, harmonizing and coordinating private law, particularly commercial law, between countries and groups of countries, and to draw up uniform laws, principles and rules to achieve these objectives. Not only the functions of the Institute were discussed, but also the latest legal development projects in the field of investment protection based on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts were addressed.
Information prepared by
Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court
E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211