CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 20 mai 2021

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margin-bottom:12pt; text-indent:14.2pt; text-align:justify; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .s7CB9076 { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt; page-break-inside:avoid; page-break-after:avoid } .sF920FE69 { font-family:Arial; color:#f8f8f8 } .s69DCC830 { margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8C1B612F { width:184.94pt; display:inline-block } .s7602FED2 { width:18.21pt; display:inline-block } .sC1AC44A4 { width:228.11pt; display:inline-block }     FIRST SECTION CASE OF BEG S.P.A. v. ITALY (Application no. 5312/11)       JUDGMENT   Art 6 § 1 (civil) • Impartial tribunal • Lack of objective impartiality of an arbitrator, top official and counsel of the parent entity of the applicant’s opponent company in related civil proceedings • No unequivocal waiver by the applicant of the right to have its dispute settled by an impartial body in voluntary arbitration proceedings   STRASBOURG 20 May 2021 FINAL   20/08/2021   This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention. It may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Beg S.p.a. v. Italy, The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:   Ksenija Turković, President,   Krzysztof Wojtyczek,   Alena Poláčková,   Péter Paczolay,   Gilberto Felici,   Erik Wennerström,   Raffaele Sabato, judges, and Renata Degener, Section Registrar, Having regard to: the application (no.   5312/11) against the Italian Republic lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a company registered in Italy, Beg S.p.a. (“the applicant”), on 21 January 2011; the decision to give notice to the Italian Government (“the Government”) of the complaint concerning Article 6 § 1 of the Convention; the parties’ observations; the applicant’s request to hold a hearing on the admissibility and the merits of the case and the Chamber’s decision of 13 April 2021, holding that an oral hearing was not necessary; Having deliberated in private on 13 April 2021, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: INTRODUCTION 1.     The case concerns, under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, the alleged unfairness of voluntary arbitration proceedings, in particular the alleged lack of impartiality of one of the arbitrators rendering an arbitral award between the applicant company and ENELPOWER S.p.a., an Italian company. THE FACTS 2.     The applicant is an Italian company, which was represented by Mr   A.   Saccucci, Mr A.G. Lana and Mr M. Desario, lawyers practising in Rome. 3.     The Government were represented by their former Co-Agent, Ms   M.G. Civinini. 4.     The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows. The factual background 5.     The applicant is a company which operates in the sector of the construction and management of hydroelectric power plants and the installation of renewable energy plants. 6 .     On 12 February 1996 the applicant sent a letter to ENEL, informing it that it was about to start the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Albania. The applicant wanted to assess ENEL’s interest in collecting the electrical energy that would be produced in the plant. ENEL, an acronym which stands for National Entity for Electrical Energy ( Ente nazionale per l’energia elettrica ), had been created as a public entity in 1962 by nationalising several hundred private electrical energy companies. In 1999, with the creation of a number of subsidiaries and 32% of its capital being sold on the stock market, a process of privatisation of the entity began. In   1996 it still had a monopoly in the Italian energy sector. At the time, N.I. was ENEL’s Vice-Chairman and a member of its Board of Directors. 7 .     ENEL sent a first positive reply on 29 February 1996, by means of a letter signed by two senior managers of the company, C.P. and G.P., declaring that it would be available in principle to examine the energy supply proposal, provided that the activities necessary to ensure the technical feasibility of the project were completed. 8 .     In June 1996 the applicant received a concession from the Albanian Government to build the hydroelectric plant. The concession was signed by the applicant in May 1997. A preliminary agreement between ENEL and the applicant, containing a commitment by the parties to implement the project, was then signed in March 1999. 9 .     In 1999, having previously been an internal division within ENEL, ENELPOWER S.p.a. (“ENELPOWER”) was created as a separate corporation, albeit wholly controlled by ENEL and linked to the latter’s Engineering and Construction Division. 10.     On 2 February 2000, after almost four years of negotiations with ENEL, the applicant signed a cooperation agreement with ENELPOWER, the newly created entity. The agreement was reached on the basis of the construction of the above-mentioned hydroelectric power plant in Albania. One of the main provisions of the agreement was the applicant’s obligation to sell, to ENEL (the parent entity), the electrical energy which would be produced in the power plant, with a view to its distribution to ENEL’s customers in Italy. 11 .     In the cooperation agreement the parties undertook, in Article 11, to refer any future disputes to the Arbitration Chamber of the Rome Chamber of Commerce (the “ACR”). 12.     On 16 March 2000, both parties agreed to entrust A.A., ENELPOWER’s auditors, with the task of assessing the value of the applicant’s concession. The aim of this assessment was to establish an amount of capital that should then be assigned to a newly created Albanian company, in order to implement the project. A.A. presented its assessment on 19 April 2000. ENELPOWER did not agree with the methods or the outcome of the audit, in addition to expressing its doubts as to the feasibility of the project, and decided not to perform the cooperation agreement. The arbitration proceedings 13.     On 23 November 2000 the applicant lodged a request with the ACR to commence arbitration proceedings against ENELPOWER. In particular, the applicant asked the ACR to establish ENELPOWER’s breach of the cooperation agreement and sought the termination of the latter, together with an order for damages, evaluated at 237,500,000,000 Italian lira (ITL) (about 130,000,000 euros (EUR)). At the same time, the applicant appointed Mr G.G. as its arbitrator. 14.     ENELPOWER filed its reply on 28 December 2000 and appointed, as its arbitrator, Mr N.I. 15 .     On 12 February 2011 the ACR sent a letter to the named arbitrators to inform them of their appointment and to invite them to disclose in writing any potential conflict of interest. The acceptance statement given by N.I. did not explicitly refer to the absence of any conflict of interest. 16.     On 6 March 2001 the arbitral panel was completed by the appointment, by the parties, of a third arbitrator to act as Chair, namely P.D.L. After the latter’s resignation, A.V. was appointed by the ACR as Chair on 7 November 2001. 17.     At the time of the events, N.I. had been representing ENEL as its lawyer in a parallel civil dispute concluded by judgment no. 15029 of 27   November 2001 (R.G. 4386/1999) of the Court of Cassation. The   dispute, between ENEL and, inter alia , the Italian national institute for insurance against accidents in the workplace (INAIL), concerned the reimbursement of insurance claims stemming from work-related accidents. 18.     On 17 June 2002 the ACR informed the parties’ lawyers that the deadline for the deposit of the award would expire on 15 December 2002. 19 .     The versions of the facts given by the parties radically differ with regard to the events of 25 November 2002:          The Government maintained that, on 25 November 2002,   the ACR had dismissed, in a private session in which the arbitrators had participated in person (“ conferenza personale” ), all the applicant’s claims . Pursuant to Article 823 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure (CCP), the award had been decided by a majority and had been deposited, with the signatures of A.V. and N.I., on 6   December 2002 at 16:34. According to the Government, during the private session the arbitrators had asked the Chair to draft the award and G.G. had expressed his intention not to sign the award.          According to the applicant, it was not true that the arbitrators had reached an agreement on a decision at that meeting. The applicant argued that G.G. had never expressly manifested his intention not to sign the award or to consent to the latter being deposited without his dissenting opinion. Moreover, G.G. had not understood that the meeting had been called to adopt the final decision. 20 .     Meanwhile, on 6 December 2002, the applicant by means of a registered letter with return receipt, faxed in advance at 16:50 to the ACR and to the three arbitrators, had lodged a request for the withdrawal of N.I. In particular, the applicant had alleged that the day before, on 5 December, it had become aware of the fact that the arbitrator appointed by ENELPOWER, N.I., had been member of the Board of Directors, Vice-Chairman and thus legal representative of ENEL, parent entity of ENELPOWER, between 1995 and 1996. Moreover the applicant had also become aware that N.I. had been, and still was, acting as a lawyer for ENEL. The applicant alleged that on 5 December 2002 its legal representative F.B., while talking with third parties of a conference held by ENEL at the Milan Stock Exchange on 8 November 2002, had discovered this information by chance. 21.     On the same day the ACR had sent to N.I. and G.G. a cover letter, together with the full text of the award. The letter read: “I herewith send you, on behalf of the Chair of the Arbitral Panel, the text of the arbitral award and I inform you that three original counterparts are at your disposal in the Registry, in order for you to sign them. I remind you that the deadline to formally deposit the award has been fixed at 15 December. I would ask you to let us know should you have any difficulty, in order to arrange a swift and smooth conclusion to the proceedings.” 22.     On 12 December 2002, G.G., allegedly unaware that the award had in the meantime been deposited (see paragraph 19 above), had sent his dissenting opinion to the ACR in which he challenged the conduct of the final stages of the arbitration proceedings. He referred to the fact that the principle of collegiality had been breached; he further complained that no collegial discussion had been held, and that a secretary had been present during the meeting of 25 November 2002. This latter circumstance had led him to believe that the meeting had not been called to adopt the decision, but that it was an informal gathering of the panel. According to the applicant, the fact that the minutes of the meeting indicated that the arbitrators had entrusted the Chair with the task of drafting the award proved nothing, as they had been drawn up some time after the meeting. 23 .     On 13 December 2002 the ACR dismissed the request for the withdrawal of N.I., since the arguments put forward by the applicant had been lodged out of time and the award had already become binding in respect of the parties, pursuant to Article 823 of the CCP. 24 .     In the meantime, on 10 December 2002, the applicant had deposited a request for the withdrawal of N.I. in the Registry of the Rome District Court, pursuant to Articles 815 and 51 of the CCP. 25 .     On 20 February 2003 the President of the Rome District Court dismissed the applicant’s request for withdrawal as inadmissible, as it had been lodged out of time. In particular, according to the District Court, the arbitration proceedings had ended on 25 November 2002 (date of the arbitrators’ conference) or, at the latest, at the time of the signing of the arbitral award by two of the arbitrators on 6 December 2002. According to the District Court, any grounds for withdrawal, if discovered after the conclusion of the arbitration proceedings, could only have been raised through extraordinary revocation proceedings. 26 .     Before the Rome District Court, N.I. spontaneously declared that he had previously represented ENEL as lawyer in two sets of proceedings, for which he had been appointed as lawyer prior to the beginning of the arbitration proceedings. 27 .     For the same reasons as those mentioned at paragraph 25 above, on 29 April 2003 the President of the Rome District Court dismissed as inadmissible a further request for the withdrawal of N.I. that had been lodged by the applicant on 27 January 2003. As an additional ground for dismissal, the District Court made reference to the fact that, in the environment in which the parties to the dispute were operating, it was quite unlikely that the parties had not been aware, well before 5 December 2002, of the professional activities of N.I. 28 .     The award was declared enforceable (pursuant to Article 825 of the CCP) on 19 December 2003, by a decision of the Rome District Court. The civil proceedings against the ACR 29 .     On an unspecified date, the applicant lodged a claim against the ACR for negligence, seeking compensation of EUR 374,482.91. The   applicant complained, inter alia , of the fact that the ACR had not requested and obtained the explicit disclosure of any conflict of interest from the arbitrators, in violation of Article 6 of its Rules of Procedure, and that it had erroneously indicated 6 December 2002 as the date of the deposit of the award. 30.     On 14 March 2005 the Rome District Court dismissed the applicant’s claims. In particular, it maintained that the arbitral panel had held a private conference on 25 November 2002 and that, on that occasion, the award had not been signed by the dissenting arbitrator. All the requirements of Article 823 of the CCP had been duly complied with. The   ACR had therefore correctly indicated 6 December 2002 as the date of deposit and no negligence could be imputed to it. At the same time, the ACR could not be held responsible for the fact that N.I. had not indicated in his statement the absence of any conflict of interest, as the ACR did not have an obligation to require such an explicit negative disclosure. The nullity appeal 31 .     On 2 December 2003, pursuant to Article 828 of the CCP, the applicant appealed against the arbitral award before the Rome Court of Appeal. In its appeal the applicant requested the courts to ascertain the non-existence or the nullity of the arbitral award of 25 November 2002, and, as a consequence, to refer the proceedings back to the panel for their continuation. The applicant argued that, inter alia , by not having disclosed his incompatibility in the independence declaration provided for by the rules of the ACR, the appointment of N.I. as arbitrator had lacked any lawfulness. It also complained of his lack of impartiality due to his ties to the ENEL group. 32 .     On 7 April 2009 the Rome Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It maintained that the award had been adopted at the conferenza personale (see paragraph 19 above) on 25 November 2002; that Article 823 of the CCP had been complied with in the sense that the majority of the arbitrators had signed the award; that the absence of an independence declaration was completely irrelevant and that the alleged lack of impartiality could not, in any case, have affected the validity of the award, as a question relating to an arbitrator’s impartiality could only have been raised in the request for withdrawal, and could never, in any event, lead to the nullity of the award. 33 .     The applicant appealed against this judgment to the Court of Cassation. The latter, on 15 November 2010, dismissed the applicant’s appeal with final effect. The Court of Cassation, however, radically changed the reason for the dismissal. In fact it deemed admissible the applicant’s complaint as to the nullity of the award stemming from the lack of impartiality of N.I., as it had been lodged, albeit after the deliberation on the award, before it had been signed, thus in the course of the arbitration proceedings (as required by Article 829 § 1(2) of the CCP). At the same time, however, the Court of Cassation stated that the existence of a link between the arbitrator and ENELPOWER, resulting in an “alignment of interests” in a specific outcome of that very dispute (Article 51 § 1(1) of the CCP), had not been demonstrated. The criminal proceedings against A.V., G.G. and N.I. 34.     Following the events of 6 December 2002, the legal representative of the applicant lodged a complaint with the ACR against its arbitrator, G.G., who had allegedly blackmailed him on 10 December 2002, warning him to drop the request for withdrawal against N.I. or G.G. would otherwise not oppose the final approval of the award, even though it was in his opinion severely flawed by irregularities . The public prosecution office in Rome, having been informed by the ACR of this complaint, opened a criminal investigation for extortion. 35.   Following the criminal investigation and the acquisition of further evidence, the public prosecution indicted N.I. and A.V. The indictment against N.I. contained several charges, ranging from forgery (Article 479 of the Criminal Code) for having, inter alia , failed to disclose his professional relationship with one of the parties, to misfeasance in public office (Article 323 of the Criminal Code) for having intentionally procured an unfair pecuniary benefit to ENELPOWER. 36.     Proceedings were discontinued on 13 September 2004 (as to the forgery charges) and 30 September 2005 (as to the misfeasance charges). With particular regard to the offence of misfeasance in public office for having intentionally procured an unfair pecuniary benefit to one of the parties to the arbitration proceedings, the preliminary investigations judge referred to the well-established case-law principle whereby arbitration was private in nature and arbitrators could not be considered public officials, therefore not being liable under the relevant criminal provision. 37.     On 30 September 2005 criminal proceedings against G.G. for false declarations to the public prosecutor were also discontinued. RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK Relevant domestic law 38.     The Court of Cassation has repeatedly stated (see, among others, judgments nos. 3804 of 25 February 2015, 8532 of 28 May 2003, and 10922 of 25 July 2002) that arbitration proceedings are held to be pending when the complaining party has given notice to the other about its intent to refer a dispute for arbitration ( domanda di accesso agli arbitri ), since the notice includes the nature and legal basis for the proceedings. The Italian Code of Civil procedure (as in force at the relevant time) 39 .     The applicable provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (CCP), as in force at the relevant time, read as follows: Article 51 – Withdrawal of judges “Judges are under an obligation to stand down where: The judge has an interest in the dispute or in another dispute concerning the same legal issue. The judge or his/her spouse is a relative within the fourth degree of, or has adoptive ties to, lives or has friendly relations with, one of the parties or one of their representatives. The judge or his/her spouse is involved in pending litigation or has a serious conflict with, or is either a debtor or creditor of, one of the parties or one of their representatives. The judge has advised or acted in the dispute, or testified therein as witness, or has previously adjudicated it in another instance as judge or arbitrator, or has been appointed as an expert. The judge is a guardian, representative, agent or employer of one of the parties; or where he/she is the director or manager of a body, an association, even one that is not recognised, a committee, a company or a subsidiary that has an interest in the dispute. In any other case where there are serious reasons of propriety, the judge can ask the head of the relevant judicial authority for authorisation to stand down ...” Article 815 – Requests for withdrawal of arbitrators “A party can request the withdrawal of the arbitrator not appointed by it for the reasons indicated in Article 51. This request for withdrawal shall be made by petition to the President of the District Court ... within the peremptory time-limit of ten days ... from the time when the ground for the challenge came to the party’s knowledge. The President, having heard representations from the challenged arbitrator and, where necessary, having made summary enquiries, shall issue an order against which there shall be no appeal.” Article 820 – Time-limit for decision “Unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the arbitrators shall render their award within 180 days after acceptance of their appointment. If there are several arbitrators and they did not all accept at the same time, the time-limit begins to run from the last acceptance. Where a request for withdrawal against an arbitrator is filed, the time-limit shall be suspended until a decision is made on such request and it shall be interrupted where it is necessary to replace an arbitrator. ...” Article 823 – Deliberation and requirements for the award “The award shall be decided by the majority vote of the arbitrators personally meeting together. It shall then be set down in writing. It shall contain: (1) the names of the parties; (2) the indication of the instrument of submission to arbitration or of the arbitration clause and of the issues submitted for decision; (3) a brief statement of the reasons; (4) the disposal of the issues ( dispositivo ); (5) the indication of the seat of the arbitration and of the place or the manner in which it was deliberated upon; (6) the signature of all the arbitrators, with the indication of the day, month and year of their signature; the arbitrators may sign in a place other than the place of deliberation, as well as abroad; if there is more than one arbitrator, they may sign in different places without having to meet again in person. However, an award signed only by the majority of the arbitrators shall be valid provided that mention is made that it was deliberated upon in the presence of all the arbitrators and that it states expressly that the other arbitrators were either unwilling or unable to sign. The award shall be binding on the parties from the date of the last signature.” Article 825 – Depositing of the award “The arbitrators shall prepare the award in as many original counterparts as the parties and shall serve notice thereof upon each party by delivery of an original counterpart, also sending it by registered mail, within ten days from the date of the last signature. The party intending to have the award enforced in the territory of the Republic shall deposit an original counterpart of the award or a certified copy thereof, together with the instrument of submission to arbitration or the document containing the arbitration clause or an equivalent document, either an original or a certified copy, with the registry of the District Court ( tribunale ) of the district in which the arbitral tribunal has its seat. The District Court, after ascertaining that the award meets all formal requirements, shall declare it enforceable by decree. The award which has been declared enforceable may be registered ( trascritto ) in all cases where a judgment with the same content would be subject to registration. ...” Article 827 – Means of appeal “The award may only be subject to a nullity appeal, to revocation or third party opposition. The appeal may be lodged irrespective of the depositing of the award. ...” Article 828 – Nullity appeal “A nullity appeal may be lodged with the Court of Appeal of the district in which the arbitral tribunal has its seat, within ninety days of notification of the award. No appeal may be lodged after one year from the date of the last signature. ...” Article 829 – Grounds for nullity “Notwithstanding any waiver, a nullity appeal may be lodged in the following cases: ...   (2) if the arbitrators have not been appointed in accordance with the provisions laid down in Chapters I and II of this Title, provided that this ground for setting aside has been raised in the arbitration proceedings; ...” Article 830 – Decision on the nullity appeal “The Court of Appeal, when granting the appeal, shall issue a judgment declaring the award null and void; where the defect affects only a part of the award which is separable from the others, it shall declare the partial nullity of the award. Unless all of the parties have declared a contrary intention, the Court of Appeal shall decide also on the merits, if the case is ready for decision, or it shall refer the case back with an order to the investigations judge ( istruttore ), if the decision on the merits requires the taking of further evidence. While the case is pending, the Court of Appeal may, at the request of a party, make an order staying enforcement of the award.” Legislative Decree no. 40 of 2 February 2006 40 .     Legislative Decree no. 40 of 2 February 2006, which entered into force after the conclusion of the arbitration proceedings in the present case, radically tightened the rules concerning disqualification of the arbitrators, by amending Article 815 of the CCP. The new amended text of Article 815 reads: “An arbitrator may be disqualified: If he/she lacks the qualifications expressly agreed upon by the parties. If he/she, or a body, association or company of which he/she is director, has an interest in the dispute. If he/she or his/her spouse is a relative within the fourth degree of, or lives or has regular relations with, the legal representative of one of the parties or with one of their lawyers. If he/she or his/her spouse is involved in pending litigation against, or has a serious conflict with, one of the parties, one of their legal representatives or one of their lawyers. If he/she is an employer or regularly gives paid advice or assistance or has any other relationship of a financial or affiliatory nature that might undermine his/her independence vis-à-vis one of the parties, a company controlled by that party, an entity controlling it or a company subject to joint control; or if he/she is the guardian or administrator of one of the parties. If he/she has advised, assisted or represented one of the parties at a previous stage of the case or has testified as a witness. A party may not seek disqualification of an arbitrator that it has appointed or has contributed to appoint, except for reasons discovered after the appointment ...” The Rules of the ACR 41 .     Article 6 of the Rules of the ACR, as in force at the relevant time, read as follows: Article 6 – Acceptance of appointment and disclosure by the arbitrator “All the arbitrators shall be impartial and independent of the parties to the proceedings. The arbitrator, having received notice of his or her appointment from the Arbitration Chamber, shall accept within 10 days. Together with the acceptance, the arbitrator shall indicate, by means of a written declaration: Any relationship with the parties or their counsel that might have an impact on his/her independence and impartiality. Any direct or indirect personal or economic interest in the subject matter of the dispute. ...” The Code of Conduct of the Italian Bar 42.     Article 55 of the Code of Conduct of the Italian Bar, as in force at the relevant time, established that lawyers could not act as arbitrators if they had had professional relations with one of the parties and that, in any event, they were under the obligation to disclose any factual circumstance or relationships with counsel and/or parties that might affect their independence. Relevant international material 43.     Standards on conflict of interest disclosure and on arbitrators’ independence and impartiality are set out by several international rules and guidelines, applying however mostly to international commercial arbitration or investment arbitration (see, among others, the International Bar Association Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration (“the IBA Guidelines”), the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) Rules, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”) Arbitration Rules, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (“SCC”) Rules, and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) Arbitration Rules). 44.     In particular, the 2004 IBA Guidelines, revised in 2014, reflect the understanding of the IBA Arbitration Committee as to the best current international practice. They seek to assist parties, practitioners, arbitrators, institutions and courts in dealing with the important questions of impartiality and independence. 45.     General Principle 1 reads: “Every arbitrator shall be impartial and independent of the parties at the time of accepting an appointment to serve and shall remain so until the final award has been rendered or the proceedings have otherwise finally terminated.” 46.     The Guidelines categorise, in three colour-coded lists, the situations that may occur during arbitration proceedings in which a duty to disclose arises. In particular, the Red List enumerates specific situations that, depending on the facts of a given case, may give rise to justifiable doubts as to the arbitrator’s impartiality and independence. It is divided into two sub-categories, “a Waivable Red List” (situations that give rise to a conflict of interest that prevents a person from accepting or continuing to serve as arbitrator unless the parties otherwise agree or have full knowledge of the conflict of interest) and “a Non-Waivable Red List” (situations of such a gravity that any waiver by a party or any agreement by the parties shall be regarded as invalid). 47.     The Waivable Red List includes the following situation: “2.3.1 The arbitrator currently represents or advises one of the parties, or an affiliate of one of the parties.” 48.     The Non-Waivable Red List includes the following situation: “1.4 The arbitrator or his or her firm regularly advises the party, or an affiliate of the party, and the arbitrator or his or her firm derives significant financial income therefrom.” THE LAW PRELIMINARY ISSUES The Co-Agent’s entitlement to represent the Government and to sign their written observations 49.     In a letter sent to the Court on 18 March 2019 the applicant, while asking for an extension of the time-limit to submit observations in reply, objected that the Government’s written observations had been signed solely by Ms M. G. Civinini, in her capacity as Co-Agent of the Government. 50.     The applicant noted that the said observations had been filed on 26   February 2019, i.e. after the entry into force of Decree-Law no. 113 of 4 October 2018 (“Decree-Law no. 113/2018”), which, under section 15(1), added by Law no. 132 of 1 December 2018 (“Law no. 132/2018”), provided that “ the functions of agent of the Government in defence of the Italian State are carried out by the Advocate General of the State, who may delegate to an Advocate of the State ”. Therefore, the applicant expressed its doubts that Ms Civinini had been duly empowered to represent the Italian Government in the proceedings before the Court. 51.     The applicant reiterated its doubts in a letter of 23 August 2019. 52.     The Court notes that Rule 35 of the Rules of Court reads: “The Contracting Parties shall be represented by Agents, who may have the assistance of advocates or advisers.” 53.     In addition, the Court notes that it is the duty of the Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe to inform the Court about the appointment of a Government Agent or Co-Agent or about the termination of his/her appointment. 54.     In this regard the Court observes that it is not disputed that Decree-Law no. 113/2018, as modified by Law no. 132/2018, provided that the functions of Agent of the Government were to be carried out by the Advocate General of the State. The Court notes that, on 5 December 2018, the Permanent Representative of Italy to the Council of Europe informed the Court that Mr M. Massella Ducci Teri, Advocate General of the State, had been appointed as the new Agent of the Government. On   24   December   2018, the Permanent Representative informed the Court that, on 21 December 2018, Mr Massella Ducci Teri had delegated the functions of Agent to Mr L. D’Ascia, Advocate of the State. 55.     Since the above-mentioned notifications exclusively concerned the functions of the principal Agent of the Government and not the functions of their Co-Agent, which were exercised by Ms Civinini before and after the above-mentioned appointments, in the absence of any formal communication by the Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe concerning the termination of her appointment, the Court has not identified any procedural incident that would have raised doubts about Ms Civinini’s status as Government representative. Therefore, the Court sees no reason to conclude that the Government’s observations were not validly submitted. Any other consideration would only concern, and operate within, the domestic legal system. Rule 47 of the Rules of Court 56.     The Government objected that the applicant had not proved that F.B., allegedly its legal representative, had been empowered to lodge the application with the Court on its behalf. They invoked in this regard Rule 47 § 3.1(d) of the Rules of Court. They argued that the applicant had not provided the Court with the company registration report ( visura ), allegedly the only document that could have proved F.B.’s role as its legal representative. 57.     The applicant invoked Article 2384 of the Italian Civil Code and Article 75 of the Italian CCP, under which the Chair of the board has authority to carry out all actions falling within the corporate purpose. 58.     The Court observes that it is only from 1 January 2014 that the amended Rule 47 applied stricter conditions for the lodging of an application with the Court (see, mutatis mutandis , Oliari and Others v. Italy , nos. 18766/11 and 36030/11, § 68, 21 July 2015). 59.     The Court further notes that at the time when the present application was lodged, the applicant had provided the Court with a document attesting that F.B. was the Chairman of the Board of Directors and legal representative of the applicant. He had moreover signed the authority form under Rule 36 of the Rules of Court in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of Directors. That form is dated 14 January 2011. 60.     The Court notes that the applicant lodged its application in 2011, and there is no reason to consider that it did not fulfil the requirements of Rule 47 as applicable at the time. Moreover, the Government solely complained that the applicant had not provided the Court with the company registration report, without contesting the actual role of F.B. Having regard to its practice under Rule 47 and the applicable domestic law at the time, the Court is therefore satisfied that the documents provided by the applicant on lodging its application show that F.B. was empowered to represent the applicant before the Court. 61.     The Government’s objection must therefore be dismissed. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 6 OF THE CONVENTION 62.     The applicant complained that, by reason of the professional links between N.I. and ENEL, parent entity of ENELPOWER, the arbitrator N.I. had lacked independence and objective impartiality. This had impinged upon its fair trial rights, enshrined in Article 6 of the Convention, which reads as follows: “In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ... everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.” Admissibility Whether the Court has jurisdiction ratione personae 63.     The Court notes that, although the respondent State has not raised any objection as to its jurisdiction ratione personae , this question calls for consideration by the Court of its own motion (see Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina [GC], nos. 27996/06 and 34836/06, § 27, ECHR 2009). 64.     In the present case, the Court observes that the complaint before it concerns the alleged lack of impartiality of N.I., one of the arbitrators composing the arbitral panel of the ACR, and the proceedings before the latter. The Court notes that the ACR is not a domestic court but rather a special agency of the Rome Chamber of Commerce, a local authority established under public law whose mission is, among others, to further the interests of businesses (the Chamber’s activities and functional autonomy are mainly regulated by Law no. 580 of 29 December 1993 and Legislative Decree no. 112 of 31 March 1998). 65.     That being said, the Court notes that Article 21 of the Rules of the ACR provided that the parties, when accepting the Rules, agreed to renounce all the waivable remedies. However, the Court also notes that in certain exhaustively enumerated circumstances, Italian law as in force at the relevant time conferred jurisdiction on the domestic courts to examine the validity of arbitral awards, by granting courts the powers both to declare the latter enforceable (pursuant to Article 825 of the CCP, see paragraph 39 above) and in particular to decide on nullity appeals aimed at reviewing the lawfulness of arbitral proceedings, including the lawfulness of the composition of the arbitral tribunal, and this notwithstanding any waiver of a right of appeal against the award as agreed by the parties in the arbitration clause (see Articles 827 et seq. of the CCP and in particular Article 829, paragraph 39 above). Italian law also conferred jurisdiction on domestic courts to examine the requests for withdrawal lodged against an arbitrator (see Article 815 of the CCP, paragraph 39 above). In this framework, the Court notes that the Rome District Court, on 19 December 2003, declared enforceable the arbitral award, giving it force of law in the Italian legal order (see paragraphs 28 and 39 above). Also, the Rome District Court on 20 January 2003 (see paragraph 25 above) and on 29 April 2003 (see   paragraph 27 above) examined and dismissed the applicant’s requests for withdrawal. Finally, the Rome Court of Appeal on 7 April 2009 (see   paragraph 32 above) and the Court of Cassation on 15 November 2010 (see paragraph 33 above) examined and dismissed the applicant’s nullity appeal lodged pursuant to Article 828 of the CCP. 66.     The impugned acts or omissions are thus capable of engaging the responsibility of the respondent State under the Convention (see, mutatis mutandis, Mutu and Pechstein v. Switzerland , nos. 40575/10 and 67474/10, § 67, 2 October 2018). It also follows that the Court has jurisdiction ratione personae to examine the applicant’s complaint as to the acts and omissions of the ACR as validated by the Italian domestic courts. Abuse of the right of application (a)    Allegedly vexatious expressions 67 .     The Government submitted that the applicant had abusively used, in its application, the expression “ soluzione pilatesca ”, which could be translated as an “elusive, cowardly” solution, with reference to the idea of “washing one’s hands” of an issue, attributed to Pontius Pilate. This   expression, used with regard to the Rome District Court’s decision on the request for withdrawal of N.I., had in their view amounted to a violation of Rule 44D of the Rules of Court, on account of its vexatious nature. 68.     The Government also contested the use of other expressions by the applicant in its observations. They submitted that the applicant had used strong language in relation to allegedly arbitrary decisions of the domestic courts, to the relationship between N.I. and ENELPOWER, and to the criminal proceedings against N.I. 69.     The applicant maintained that the expression mentioned in paragraph 67 above had been used to stress the fact that the President of the Rome District Court had dismissed its request on the allegedly erroneous assumption that the arbitration had already ended, without properly addressing the legal issues at stake. 70.     Although expressly raised as a violation of Rule 44D, the Court considers it appropriate to deal with the argument as an objection relating to alleged abuse of the right of application. 71.     The Court reiterates that the use of particularly vexatious, insulting, threatening or provocative language by an applicant – whether this is directed against the respondent Government, its Agent, the authorities of the respondent State, the Court itself, its judges, its Registry or members thereof – may be also considered an abuse of the right of application within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention. However, it does not suffice for the applicant’s language to be sharp, polemical or sarcastic; to be considered an abuse, it must exceed the limits of normal, civic and legitimate criticism (see, among many other authorities, Petrov and X v.   Russia , no. 23608/16, § 74, 23 October 2018). 72.     In the present case it is certainly true that both the application and the applicant’s written observations are characterised by strong and heated language. The applicant expressed its criticism of the domestic decisions and all the events surrounding the arbitral award in a forceful manner. 73.     However, the Court does not accept the Government’s argument that the language used by the applicant, although certainly sharp and very polemical, had overstepped the limits of normal, civic and legitimate criticism against the judicial authorities of the respondent State. Accordingly, the Court rejects the Government