Judicial Liquidation of Ceased Entrepreneurs and the Statutory One-Year Time Limit
Abstract
This paper examines the statutory one-year time limit for opening judicial liquidation against a ceased individual entrepreneur under Article 33 of the Italian Code of Business Crisis and Insolvency, as reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in Order no. 28458/2026. Maintaining continuity with former Article 10 of the Bankruptcy Law, the rule strictly ties the commencement of the limitation period to the formal deregistration from the business register, barring the debtor from asserting an earlier de facto termination of activity. The study analyzes the public reliance rationale, the constitutional soundness of the asymmetric evidentiary burden between debtor and creditors, the irrelevance of partial business transfers when residual secondary activities remain registered, and the significant procedural consequences of bad faith litigation sanctions under Article 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Key Legal Takeaways
- Strict anchoring to the Business Register: For all registered entrepreneurs, the starting date ( dies a quo ) of the one-year period under Article 33 of the Crisis and Insolvency Code runs exclusively from formal deregistration from the Business Register and admits no evidence of an earlier cessation by conduct ( per facta concludentia ).
- Evidentiary asymmetry protecting third parties: Whereas the debtor is strictly bound by the declaratory effect of commercial register publicity, petitioning creditors and the public prosecutor retain the right to prove the actual continuation of business operations following formal deregistration.
- Irrelevance of partial divestments and administrative licenses: Neither the transfer of a business branch nor the loss of administrative operating permits triggers the one-year time limit where the enterprise retains additional registered branches or active business classification codes.
- Timeliness of insolvency proceedings and publication date: The running of the one-year period stops upon the publication of the judgment opening judicial liquidation, rendering irrelevant both the date on which the debtor filed the deregistration application and the date on which the judgment is entered in the register.
