Cosa resta dell’“accordo” nel contratto algoritmico?

This article examines the resilience of the principle of agreement as the defining core of the contract in light of the transformations brought about by new digital technologies. Starting from the reconstruction proposed by V. Roppo and on the centrality of the identity between agreement and contract within general contract theory, it shows how the emergence of algorithmic contractual models, smart contracts, and platform-based contracts primarily affects the procedures governing the formation and management of the contractual bond. Particular attention is devoted to the progressive compression of the exchange of consents and to the risk of marginalising the human volitional element. Through an analysis of art. 8-ter of Law n. 12/2019 and a concise dogmatic reconstruction of the smart contract as a technique or procedural structure, the article argues that the compatibility of these phenomena with contract law depends on the recognition of an agreement on the technique and on an extension of private autonomy in procedural terms. It follows that a new general theory of contract is not required, since traditional principles—appropriately adapted—are sufficient to qualify and govern the new forms of technologically mediated contracting.