By Order No. 11765 of May 5, 2025, the Italian Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione) ruled on the validity of a non-compete agreement entered into between a bank and a former employee, declaring null and void the agreement that imposed on the employee a general and undifferentiated prohibition from engaging in any activity in the banking, financial, and insurance sectors for a period of 12 months, in the absence of adequate financial compensation and with an indeterminate territorial scope.

The Court clarified that, for such an agreement to be valid, it is not sufficient to merely comply with the statutory limits on duration and to provide consideration separate from regular remuneration; the obligation imposed must also be defined or at least objectively determinable at the time of execution. Furthermore, the agreed compensation must be real and proportionate, taking into account the actual restrictions placed on the employee’s professional freedom and earning capacity. In the absence of these requirements, the entire agreement must be deemed null and void.