ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Alessandro Pistochini, Davide Giorgiadi, Giulia Barattini and Carlotta Scozia, Pistochini Avvocati Studio Legale
Plea Bargain Proceedings According to Article 444 onwards of the Criminal Procedure Code, individuals may settle a charge through a plea bargain agreement, with the pros - ecutor setting out the pecuniary sanctions (fines) and the duration of imprisonment. The main positive outcomes of plea bargain pro - ceedings are as follows: • the sanctions agreed with the prosecutor are reduced by a maximum of one-third; • if the judgment does not exceed two years of imprisonment (or two years of imprison - ment combined with a financial penalty), the judgment itself does not entail the cost of the proceedings or the application of ancillary penalties and security measures, except for confiscation in cases set forth by Article 240 of the ICC; • if the judgment does not exceed two years of imprisonment (or two years of imprison - ment combined with a financial penalty), the offence shall be extinguished if, within five years (if the judgment concerns a crime) or two years (if the judgment concerns a mis - demeanour), the accused does not commit a crime or misdemeanour of the same kind; • according to Article 445, paragraph No 1-bis of the Criminal Procedure Code, the plea bargain sentence has no effect and cannot be used as evidence in other judicial proceed - ings (such as civil cases, disciplinary pro - ceedings, tax proceedings or administrative proceedings); and • the Cartabia Reform, by amending Article 444, paragraph 3-bis, has allowed the par - ties who request a plea bargain to condition its effectiveness on the exemption from the accessory penalties referred to in Article 317- bis ICC, or on the extension of the effects of conditional suspension to those penalties as
likely to damage EU’s financial interests and mis - appropriation of EU funds by a public official). 7.2 Enforcement Bodies Concerning the enforcement bodies, see 7.1 Enforcement . 7.3 Jurisdictional Reach of Enforcement Bodies For more on the jurisdictional reach of the enforcement bodies, see 7.1 Enforcement , and for more on temporal jurisdiction, see 3.1 Limita- tion Period . 7.4 Discretion for Mitigation and Aggravation Mitigation With reference to mitigation powers, it is impor - tant to highlight that they concern two different fields: administrative law and criminal law. From the administrative perspective, ANAC Res - olution No 949/2017 introduced the possibility of extinguishing the administrative pecuniary sanctions issued by ANAC, in the event that no disqualifying sanctions are applicable, by means of the payment of a reduced fine. Payment of the fine is due within 60 days from the notification of the violation, at a rate of EUR500 in the case of failure to provide the information requested and EUR1,000 in the case of provid - ing false information. However, regarding potential mitigation powers in the criminal field, the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code provide for three dif - ferent mitigation measures that may be applied by the criminal courts to reduce the sanctions described in 5.1 Penalties on Conviction .
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