Abstract
The Italian chapter aims to provide an analysis of the domestic specific provisions and the general principles governing the effects of corruption on the contracts concerned. Particular attention is given to the public procurement sector, being the area most vulnerable to corruption in Italy. The recent Expo scandal has shown how complex is to annulling contracts awarded when corrupt practices have affected the awarding process because of a fragmented and incoherent specific body of legislation derogating the traditional private law principles governing contract validity.
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- 1.
Italy was ranked alongside Bulgaria, Greece and Romania out of 31 EU and Western Europe nations in the Corruption Perception Index provided by Transparency International. Globally, Italy came in 69th place out of 174 countries; Transparency International, 2014 Corruptions Perceptions Index, available at http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014
- 2.
OECD Working Group on Bribery, Phase 3 Report on Implementing the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in Italy, 8 December 2011, available at www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/italy-oecdanti-briberyconvention.htm
- 3.
European Commission, EU Anti-Corruption Report, 3 February 2014, COM (2014) 38 final, 21.
- 4.
This is the case with the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions of 1997 and with the United Nations Convention against Corruption of 2003.
- 5.
The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions was ratified by Italy on 15 December 2000. In 2009, Italy ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption (Merida Convention) and in 2013 the Council of Europe’s Criminal and Civil Law Conventions on Corruption. G Sacerdoti, ‘La Convenzione OCSE del 1997 sulla lotta contro la corruzione dei pubblici ufficiali stranieri nelle transazioni commerciali internazionali’ (1998) Rivista italiana di diritto e procedura penale 1349; P Mariani, ‘L’adesione dell’Italia alla Convenzione civile del Consiglio d’Europa sulla corruzione: la tutela privatistica dei diritti lesi da pratiche corruttive’ (2013) Diritto del Commercio internazionale 453.
- 6.
E Dolcini, ‘Appunti su corruzione e legge anticorruzione’ (2013) Rivista italiana di diritto e procedura penale 527–557.
- 7.
F Mantovani, Concorso e conflitto di norme nel diritto penale (Bologna, Zanichelli, 1966) 37; A Bellizzi, Contratto illecito, reato e irripetibilità ob turpem causam: profili restitutori dei delitti di corruzione e concussione (Torino, Giappichelli, 1999) 36; I Leoncini, Reato e contratto nei loro rapporti reciproci (Milano, Giuffrè, 2006) 84 ff.
- 8.
Bellizzi (n 7), 34.
- 9.
Bellizzi (n 7), 79; F Ferrara, Teoria del negozio illecito nel diritto civile italiano (Milano, Società editrice libraria, 1914) 291.
- 10.
Cassazione Penale, 25 March 2003, no 26625.
- 11.
M Ramajoli, ‘La Cassazione riafferma la giurisdizione ordinaria sul rapporto contrattuale tra amministrazione e aggiudicatario’ (2008) Diritto processuale amministrativo 526.
- 12.
Cassazione Civile, sez unite, 14 December 1985, no 6329; Cassazione Civile, 8 May 1996, no 4269; Consiglio di Stato, 1 February 2002, no 570.
- 13.
Consiglio di Stato, 13 November 2002, no 6281; Consiglio di Stato, 5 March 2003, no 1218.
- 14.
Consiglio di Stato, 30 March 1993, no 435; Consiglio di Stato, 4 March 2003, no 1518.
- 15.
Consiglio di Stato, 27 October 2003, no 6666; Consiglio di Stato, 12 November 2004, no 7646.
- 16.
According to Art 113, para 3 of the Italian Constitution “[t]he law determines which judicial bodies are empowered to annul public administrative acts in the cases and with the consequences provided for by the law itself”. The administrative courts represent, according the Constitutional Court, “the natural judge of the lawfulness of the exercise of public functions”: F Goisis, ‘Judicial Review of Administrative Technical Complex Assessments: Italian and EU Experiences Compared’ (2014) XI Giustamm.it, available at www.giustamm.it
- 17.
In Italian law “legitimate interest” (interesse legittimo) is an individual position indirectly protected in so far as consistent with the public interest; a personal right, by contrast, is an individual position fully protected irrespective of the public interest at stake.
- 18.
Cassazione Sez Un, 28 December 2007, no 27169.
- 19.
The contracting authority does not require a judicial order to terminate an illegally awarded public contract and the economic operator illegally awarded with the contract has the contrary motive of maintaining the status quo.
- 20.
According to the Italian Constitutional Court (decisions no 292/2000 and no 281/2004).
- 21.
The Public Procurement Directives (Directive no 2004/17 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors, Directive 2004/18 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts and Directive 2009/81 on the coordination of procedures for the award of certain works contracts, supply contracts and service contracts by contracting authorities or entities in the fields of defence and security) do not apply to all public contracts. Contracts below the thresholds for application of the Public Procurement Directives, as fixed by Regulation No 1336/2013, and contracts for services listed in Annex II B to Directive 2004/18/EC and in Annex XVII B to Directive 2004/17/EC that exceed the thresholds for application of these Directives are excluded. It is worth noting that the European legislation also represents a sort of soft law with regard to the excluded contracts: European Commission, Interpretative Communication on the Community law applicable to contract awards not or not fully subject to the provisions of the Public Procurement Directives, 2006/C 179/02.
- 22.
S Treumer, ‘The New Remedy Ineffectiveness in EU Public Procurement Law, Good Faith and Claims for Damages’ in M Andenas and K Lilleholt (eds), Remedies and Substantive Law – European Dimensions of Economic and Private Law, (2012) European Business Law Review 908.
- 23.
In Commission v Germany (C-503/04) [2007] ECR I-6153 the Court concluded that Germany’s failure to terminate a contract which the same Court of Justice had previously determined had been awarded illegally (Commission v Germany (C-20/01 and C-28/01) [2003] E.C.R. I-3609) meant that Germany had failed to comply with its obligations to take the necessary measures to comply with the Court’s judgment.
- 24.
G Greco, ‘Illegittimo affidamento dell’appalto, sorte del contratto e sanzioni alternative nel d.lgs 53/2010’ (2010) Rivista italiana di diritto pubblico comunitario 729.
- 25.
Corte di Cassazione, Gestione liquidatoria USSL e altri v IFG Tettamanti SpA e altri, 16 October 2010, no 3672.
- 26.
Protocollo di Legalità tra Expo 2015 SpA e Prefettura di Milano, 13 February 2012, available at www.expo2015.org/it/amministrazione-trasparente-/altri-contenuti/protocollo-di-legalita
- 27.
Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale Lombardia, Milano, Sezione 1, 9 July 2014, no 1802.
- 28.
Consiglio di Stato, 16 September 2014, Ord No 04089/2014.
- 29.
Atto aggiuntivo in materia anticorruzione al Protocollo di legalità sottoscritto in data 13 febbraio 2014, 3 ottobre 2014, available at www.expo2015.org/it/amministrazione-trasparente-/altri-contenuti/protocollo-di-legalita
- 30.
A.N.AC. (Autorità nazionale anticorruzione) was set up by Law 15/2009 and by Legislative Decree 150/2009.
Since December 2009 the Authority has supervised the State administration’s activities through administrative procedures aimed at improving transparency and integrity, preventing corruption, ensuring the performance of management and the quality of public services.
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Mariani, P. (2015). The Effects of Corruption on Contracts in Italy: The Long Road Towards a Legal and Fair, Competitive Market. In: Bonell, M., Meyer, O. (eds) The Impact of Corruption on International Commercial Contracts. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19054-9_9
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