When a measure affects the business or its rights
The relationship between a business and public administration is punctuated by measures that bear directly on its operations: a trading licence refused or revoked, an order suspending the activity issued by the municipality following a local health authority (ASL) inspection, a Guardia di Finanza report on irregular employment, the refusal of a building permit, exclusion from a tender procedure. For the private citizen, the front line is that of administrative penalties — highway code, municipal regulations, special legislation — and of measures affecting driving licences, residence and personal permits.
In both cases the system is dominated by short deadlines for challenge and by the rigid allocation of jurisdiction: the correct remedy must be identified with precision, because a mistake — bringing the claim before the ordinary courts when the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) has jurisdiction, or vice versa — frequently means the loss of protection. The firm assists businesses, professionals, small entrepreneurs and individuals in the Romagna area in managing their relationship with public authorities, from the procedural adversarial exchange to litigation before the administrative and ordinary courts.
Access to documents and generalised civic access
Access to administrative documents under Articles 22 et seq. of Law 241/1990 — reserved to those with a direct, concrete and current interest — and the generalised civic access introduced by Legislative Decree 33/2013 (the so-called Italian FOIA), which allows knowledge of documents held by the administration even in the absence of a qualified interest, are often the first step of the defence strategy. Full knowledge of the documentation that led to the measure is a precondition for challenging it effectively.
The firm assists with drafting access requests, managing the thirty-day deadline for the response, and bringing an appeal to the TAR against refusal or silence under Article 116 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, with the special accelerated procedure the provision lays down. The distinction between the two regimes — qualified interest for documentary access, broader counter-interests and stricter limits for civic access — is assessed case by case.
Hierarchical appeals and extraordinary appeals to the Head of State
The Italian system preserves two administrative remedies alongside proceedings before the TAR: the hierarchical appeal (Presidential Decree 1199/1971), available against non-final measures to the superior body within thirty days, and the extraordinary appeal to the President of the Republic, available against final measures within one hundred and twenty days of service, as an alternative to judicial review.
The extraordinary appeal to the Head of State — examined by the Council of State in its advisory capacity and decided by presidential decree with effects equivalent to a judgment — offers advantages in terms of costs (reduced court fee) and duration, but it entails forgoing the possibility of seeking interim suspension of the measure under the accelerated scheme of administrative proceedings, in addition to the strict either-or relationship with judicial review. The choice of instrument requires a prior assessment of the case, especially in fields where the extraordinary remedy is traditionally widespread.
Appeals to the TAR and the Council of State
The appeal to the Regional Administrative Court must be brought, on pain of inadmissibility, within sixty days of service or of full knowledge of the measure. The deadline is halved in matters subject to the accelerated procedure (public contracts, immigration, access, certain electoral measures). The application for interim suspension under Article 55 of the Code of Administrative Procedure — before the full panel, or before a single judge in cases of extreme urgency under Article 56 — makes it possible to neutralise the enforcement of the measure pending the decision on the merits.
The firm's work includes the preliminary verification of administrative jurisdiction, the analysis of the reasons of the measure in search of the typical defects (lack of competence, breach of law, misuse of power in its symptomatic forms — inadequate inquiry, illogicality, improper purpose, unequal treatment), and the drafting of the originating appeal, additional grounds and the appeal to the Council of State. Cases before the TAR for Emilia-Romagna — sitting in Bologna — are the ordinary forum for most measures concerning the Romagna area, save where the law assigns functional competence to the TAR for Lazio.
Administrative penalties (Law 689/1981): opposition before the Justice of the Peace or the Tribunal
Most pecuniary administrative penalties imposed by municipalities, prefectures, supervisory authorities and other bodies are subject to the general regime of Law 689/1981, with the possibility of filing defence briefs within thirty days of service of the report and of bringing opposition before the Justice of the Peace or the Tribunal within thirty days of service of the injunction order, according to the allocation of competence by subject matter and value laid down by Article 6 of Legislative Decree 150/2011.
The firm assists with the preliminary assessment of the merits of the opposition — in the light of the deadlines for the charge, the reasons given in the report and the proof of the facts alleged — and with the conduct of the proceedings. The field embraces highway code penalties (for which the special opposition rules are contained in Article 7 of Legislative Decree 150/2011), building penalties, waste-related penalties, penalties imposed by the labour inspectorate, SIAE penalties and local administrative tax penalties.
SIAE, Guardia di Finanza, ASL and municipal measures
The formal regularity of the report, observance of the one-hundred-and-fifty-day deadline for service on residents in Italy (Article 14 of Law 689/1981), the correctness of the reasons and the existence of the substantive grounds for the charge are the recurrent themes in the defence of the business or citizen on the receiving end of measures by supervisory authorities. The firm handles matters relating to:
- SIAE assessments concerning copyright for public establishments and commercial activities;
- Guardia di Finanza reports in fields other than tax in the strict sense (gaming and betting, irregular employment, anti-money-laundering);
- ASL prescriptions and measures concerning food safety, occupational hygiene and health permits;
- mayoral orders and measures of municipal officers concerning trading licences (Articles 17 et seq. of Legislative Decree 114/1998 and regional legislation), public establishments (TULPS) and building permits (Presidential Decree 380/2001).
Coordination with the technical professional — accountant, employment consultant, surveyor, architect — is continuous, especially at the stages where the defence requires the integration of technical documentation.
Expropriations and civic uses
The procedure for expropriation in the public interest governed by Presidential Decree 327/2001 unfolds in successive stages — declaration of public interest, expropriation decree, determination of the indemnity — each of which offers its own avenues of protection. Jurisdiction is divided between the administrative courts (for the lawfulness of the measures) and the ordinary courts, in particular the Court of Appeal (for the determination of the indemnity). Matters concerning civic uses, assigned to the regional Commissioner and from there to the ordinary courts, involve specific evidentiary issues. The firm assists in proceedings relating to the Romagna area, with particular attention to the timing of protection and the quantification of compensation.
Disciplinary proceedings in public employment
Public employees are subject to a disciplinary system which, although largely drawn into the jurisdiction of the employment courts as a result of the "privatisation" of the employment relationship, retains specific public-law features in the procedural stage (Articles 55 et seq. of Legislative Decree 165/2001), in the way the Office for Disciplinary Proceedings is constituted and in the mandatory deadlines for the charge and the conclusion. The firm assists public employees at the procedural stage, in hearings before the Office for Disciplinary Proceedings and in the subsequent litigation before the Tribunal. For personnel of the Armed Forces, the State Police and militarily organised corps — where the employment relationship remains entirely public-law in nature and the disciplinary system has rules of its own — see the dedicated page.
Public procurement law for SMEs
Access by small and medium-sized enterprises to public-contract award procedures is now governed by the Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree 36/2023, definitively in force since 1 July 2023). The field features reduced deadlines for challenge (thirty days), accelerated procedures (Articles 119 and 120 of the Code of Administrative Procedure) and a set of specific defects linked to the stages of the procedure. The firm assists local SMEs with the litigation arising from exclusions, awards to third parties and acts of the tender procedure, in liaison with external technical consultants where the complexity of the contract makes it appropriate.
The firm's method
The first meeting is devoted to framing the case and analysing the measure and the relevant documentation. On that basis the firm prepares a written estimate of the professional activity pursuant to Article 13 of Law 247/2012 (L. 247/2012).
The firm is a sole practice: the client deals directly with the principal. The assessment of the most appropriate remedy — application for self-redress, hierarchical appeal, extraordinary appeal, judicial appeal to the TAR — is a constitutive part of the advice and precedes the choice of procedural instrument. Where the business is followed by technical consultants in other disciplines, liaison is continuous for the entire duration of the proceedings.
Related areas
- Employment law for employers — for the sanctioning aspects of the labour inspectorate.
- Tax law and tax litigation — for administrative tax penalties and Revenue Agency measures.
For a first discussion
For a first discussion of your situation you may message us on WhatsApp or use the contact form. The first meeting is intended to frame the case and to define — where appropriate — a written estimate of the activity pursuant to Article 13 of Law 247/2012.