ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Filippo Pacciani and Antonio D’Arcangelo, Legance
Legance Via Broletto, 20 20121, Milan Italy Tel: +39 028 963 071 Fax: +39 028 9630 7810 Email: fpacciani@legance.it Web: www.legance.com
1. Jurisdiction 1.1 General Rules or Specific Regimes? Judicial review of public law decisions is gov - erned by general rules, with certain exceptions relating to particular decision-makers or deci - sions. The general rule is that administrative courts assess the legitimacy of any type of decision, act, resolution, regulation, etc issued by public entities (hereinafter referred to as “Public Admin- istrations” ) in the exercise of administrative pow - ers (hereinafter referred to as “Administrative Decisions” ). For exceptions, see 2.1 Determining Suscep- tibility . 1.2 Forum for Judicial Review Challenges are heard by the regional administra - tive courts. Appeals against first-instance judgments are brought before the Council of State ( Consiglio di Stato ) and, solely in the case of appeals against judgments of the Sicilian administrative court, before the Council of Administrative Justice for the Sicilian Region ( Consiglio di giustizia ammin- istrativa per la Regione siciliana ).
Judgments issued by the Council of State and the Council of Administrative Justice for the Sicil - ian Region may be appealed before the Italian Supreme Court ( Suprema Corte di Cassazione ) on the sole ground of lack of jurisdiction.
2. Target of Challenge 2.1 Determining Susceptibility
Susceptibility to challenges before administra - tive courts is determined by reference to both the status of the defendant and the nature of the challenged Administrative Decisions. As previously mentioned, the general rule is that administrative courts exercise their jurisdiction over any Administrative Decisions (see 1.1 Gen- eral Rules or Specific Regimes? ). However, in the utilities sector, certain decisions made by private entities controlled by Public Administrations are also susceptible of being challenged before administrative courts. The rationale for this exception is that such decisions impact public interests. Finally, in specific matters provided for by law, administrative courts exercise judicial control over decisions made by Public Administra -
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