ITALY Trends and Developments Contributed by: David A Röttgen, Andrea Farì, Francesco Fonderico and Ermanno Fonderico, Ambientalex Studio Legale
Board of Auditors. Furthermore, Ermanno has been a member of various government commissions. He has published articles and comments on judgments with leading legal journals, and has participated as a speaker at numerous conferences. He has also held teaching positions in courses and master’s degrees in his areas of expertise at leading Italian institutions and universities.
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The Six-Strand Reform of Environmental Legislation
must be converted into law by the Italian Parliament within 60 days of their publication. In the past, given the slowness of the ordinary legislative procedure, governments have often resorted to this form of leg- islation, even outside a strict reading of the constitu- tional requirements of necessity and urgency. Through Law No 147/2025 of 3 October 2025, Law- Decree No 116 of 8 August 2025 was converted into law, containing “Urgent provisions for combating ille- gal activities relating to waste, for the remediation of the area known as Terra dei Fuochi, and for assisting the population affected by natural disasters”. This was published in Official Gazette No 183 of 8 August 2025. This is a comprehensive and high-impact intervention in the field of waste management, environmental pro- tection and the fight against illegal waste practices. Said new legislation, issued following the 30 January 2025 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and aimed at securing and remediating the Terra dei Fuochi (Land of Fires), addresses the sensitive issue of environmental offences. The objective is to ensure
In Italy, environmental law is constantly evolving. Among the main objectives of the current legisla- ture are the simplification and streamlining of Italian environmental legislation. Moreover, in 2022, a con- stitutional reform included the protection of the envi- ronment, ecosystems and biodiversity among the fun- damental principles of the Italian Constitution. Thus, the objective of aligning ordinary legislation with the new constitutional provisions was also added. There are six main strands of trends and developments in environmental legislation in Italy. The first strand The first strand is characterised by the type of regula- tory source, namely law-decrees. These are regulatory acts with the force of law, adopted by the govern- ment in extraordinary cases of necessity and urgency pursuant to Article 77 of the Italian Constitution and Article 15 of Law 400 of 23 August 1988. As a rule, law-decrees come into force immediately upon pub- lication in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic. In order not to lose their effectiveness, law-decrees
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