ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Alessandro Pistochini, Luca Moglia, Giovanni Bellissimo and Giulia Barattini, Pistochini Avvocati Studio Legale
criminal nature – that affect a large number of people (eg, unfair commercial practices).
Court upheld dual-track systems when criminal and administrative proceedings are sufficiently closed in substance and time. Italy has no specialised judges or courts for white-col - lar crimes (Article 102 of the Constitution) and ensures judicial independence, preventing political interfer - ence in the application of law, given the separation of powers and the autonomy of the judiciary. 2.2 Initiating an Investigation In Italy, white-collar investigations are opened and directed by the Public Prosecutor ( Pubblico Ministe- ro ), a judicial officer independent of the Government and bound only by law. The rules governing the initiation and conduct of investigations are outlined in the Code of Criminal Procedure and its implementing provisions. A notitia criminis relating to white-collar matters may reach the prosecutor through multiple channels: oral or written complaints by anyone aware of an offence (stating the essential facts), mandatory reports by public officials where ex officio crimes come to light in or because of their duties, and institutional refer - rals from supervisory and enforcement authorities (eg, Court of Auditors, Revenue Agency, CONSOB, Bank of Italy, etc). Consistent with Article 112 of the Constitution (man - datory prosecution), receipt of a sufficiently specific and credible notitia criminis triggers the Public Prose - cutor’s duty to enter the matter in the register of crime reports under Article 335 ICCP, recording the facts, time and place, and, if known, the suspect. From that moment, the Prosecutor directs the inves - tigation and may delegate the judicial police to carry out investigative acts (document collection, witness interviews, technical assessments, and so on). 2.3 Powers of Investigation In Italy, investigative authorities have broad powers to detect white-collar crimes during preliminary investi - gations, as governed by the Code of Criminal Proce - dure and special laws.
2. Enforcement 2.1 White-Collar Enforcement Authorities In Italy, the main authorities addressing white-collar crimes (eg, tax fraud, corruption, money laundering, corporate offences) are the following: • Public Prosecutor’s Office (initiates criminal pro - ceedings, coordinates investigations and pros - ecutes in court); • Guardia di Finanza (judicial and tax police support - ing prosecutors in investigating financial, corpo - rate, and public administration crimes); • EPPO (competent over offences harming EU finan - cial interests); • administrative authorities, often involved in matters of white-collar crime, including CONSOB (financial markets and market abuse supervision), Bank of Italy (banking supervision), IVASS (supervision of insurance markets), ANAC (National Anti-Corrup - tion Authority), UIF (Financial Intelligence Unit). Italian law provides complementary criminal, civil and administrative remedies in economic crime cases. Civil liability may arise alongside criminal sanctions, allowing injured parties, including public administra - tions, to claim both pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages via standalone civil actions or as civil par - ties in criminal proceedings (Articles 74 et seq ICCP). For offences such as market abuse, tax violations, accounting irregularities, and unfair commercial prac - tices, administrative sanctions (including monetary fines and disqualifications) are imposed by sectoral regulators: CONSOB, AGCM (for competition), and ANAC (for public procurement). Criminal and administrative proceedings may coexist, raising concerns about ne bis in idem. The ECtHR, in Grande Stevens v Italy , scrutinised such dual pro - ceedings under the ne bis in idem principle and found that CONSOB sanctions for market abuse were of a criminal nature. However, in A. and B. v Norway, the
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