Section Second: Commencement and Duration of Prescription

Article 344

Article 344 - Obligations extinguish through the creditor's inactivity, who has refrained from asserting their rights over a certain period of time.

Article 345

Article 345 - Prescription does not operate of its own force, but only if it is invoked by the person in whose favor it has been accomplished and who may rely on it at all times, including for the first time on appeal; the judge cannot supply of his own motion the consequence that results from it.

Article 346

Article 346 - The creditor cannot waive the statute of limitations in advance, nor extend or shorten its periods, but may waive it once acquired. His waiver can be express or tacit. If it has a fraudulent character, the creditors of the waiving party may obtain revocation through the Paulian action.

Article 347

Article 347 - Prescription may be pleaded against the creditor by a solidary debtor or by a guarantor, or by another creditor of the debtor and indirectly.

Article 348

Article 348 - Prescription runs only from the day on which the claim becomes due. The period is calculated by days, not hours; the initial day is not counted; prescription is complete when the last day of the period has expired.

Article 349

Article 349 - In principle, the statute of limitations is completed within a period of ten years.

Article 350

Article 350 - The following are prescribed for five years: arrears, interest, dividends; rents of houses and agricultural leases, and generally, payments due annually or at shorter intervals. The same five-year prescription applies to actions between partners and between them and third parties, in respect of obligations arising from the partnership agreement; this period runs from the date the deed of dissolution of the company or renunciation by the partner is published.

Article 351

Art. 351 (Article 2 of Legislative Decree No. 46 of 12/6/1943 stipulates: {In all cases where, on the date of entry into force of this Legislative Decree, the entirety of the two-year period fixed by Article 351 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts, or more than eighteen months of this period have expired, a period of six months from this same date shall be granted for the exercise of the action for payment of the indemnities provided for by Articles 652 and 656 of the said Code) - Shall be subject to a two-year prescription period: 1 - The action of merchants, suppliers, manufacturers, in respect of the supplies made by them; 2 - That of farmers and producers of raw materials for the supplies made by them, when they have served the domestic needs of the debtor; this, from the day on which the supplies were made; 3 - That of teachers, professors, and boarding school masters, public or private, for the fees due to them by their pupils, as well as for the supplies made to the latter, from the date of expiry of the term fixed for the payment of their fees; 4 - That of domestic servants for their wages, expenses, and other benefits due to them, by virtue of the hiring of their services, as well as that of masters against their servants for the advances made to them under the same title; 5 - That of workers, apprentices, for their wages, supplies, and working days, and for the expenses incurred by them in respect of their services, as well as that of the employer or boss, for the sums advanced to their workers under the same titles; 6 - That of hotelkeepers or innkeepers, in respect of the lodging and food they provide, and the expenses incurred for their clients; 7 - That of lessors of furniture and movable property, in respect of the rent of these things; 8 - That of public or private establishments intended for the treatment of diseases, or for the care of patients, in respect of the care provided to the said patients and the supplies and expenses incurred for these latter, from the day on which the care was provided and the supplies were made. 9 - The 9th paragraph of Article 351 was added by Law No. 46/ET of 12/6/1943: That of wage earners for the payment of the indemnities to which they may be entitled under Articles 652 and 656 of this Code.

Article 352

Article 352 - The following actions are also prescribed by two years: 1 - Those of physicians, surgeons, obstetricians, dentists, veterinarians, for their visits and operations as well as for their supplies and expenses, from the last visit or operation; 2 - That of pharmacists for medications provided by them, from the date of provision; 3 - That of lawyers and mandataries ad litem for fees and expenses, from the final judgment or revocation of the mandate conferred upon them; 4 - That of architects, engineers, experts, surveyors, for their estimates or operations and expenses incurred by them, from the day the estimate was submitted, operations completed or expenses made; 5 - That of intermediaries for payment of their commissions, from the conclusion of the transaction.

Article 353

Article 353 - Prescription applies in cases governed by Articles 350 and 352 above, regardless of the continuation of supplies, deliveries, services, and works.