EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 20.7.2021 SWD(2021) 716 final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 2021 Rule of Law Report





Country Chapter on the rule of law situation in Italy Accompanying the COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 2021 Rule of Law Report





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Abstract The Italian justice system continues to undergo a number of reforms aimed at improving its quality and efficiency, including draft laws to streamline civil and criminal procedures, which are still discussed by the Parliament. Digitalisation of the justice system continues to be developed and human resources have been increased with plans to further expand them. These measures are particularly important to address the serious challenges related to the efficiency of the justice system, including backlogs and length of proceedings. The draft law regarding the High Council for the Judiciary and other aspects of the justice system, aiming at strengthening judicial independence, is still under discussion in Parliament. This draft law intends in particular to modify the way in which the members of the Council are elected. It is important that these reforms take into account Council of Europe recommendations. Italy continues strengthening its legislative framework to fight corruption and corruption-related crimes. Cooperation, specialisation and resources for investigators and prosecutors of corruption and corruption-related crimes are generally considered sufficient to repress corruption, including high-level corruption. A lack of resources and limited experience and legal expertise affect the capacity of law enforcement authorities to pursue and prosecute foreign bribery effectively. Excessive disposition time, in particular at the appeal level, continues to constitute an obstacle to the fight against corruption, and comprehensive reforms to streamline criminal procedures are still pending in Parliament. Several legislative proposals and amendments to strengthen preventative measures against corruption are pending, including on conflicts of interest, lobbying and ’revolving doors’. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased the risk of corruption and corruption-related crimes being committed to further infiltrate the legal economy of Italy. Italy has a robust legislative framework regulating the media sector as well as an independent, well-resourced and effective media regulator. Italy’s scheduled reform of its defamation laws remains pending in Parliament and the political independence of the Italian media remains an issue of concern in particular in the audio-visual sector. Rescue packages provided in 2020 by the Government to counteract the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic included some media-specific measures. Numerous physical attacks and death threats as well as other forms of intimidation against journalists remain an issue of concern. As regards checks and balances, the emergency regime related to the COVID-19 pandemic is still in place, but the Government is adopting measures to progressively reduce restrictions. A new proposal is under discussion to strengthen the role of Parliament during emergency situations. The use of public consultations and ex post regulatory impact assessments has been slightly improved but they are still not systematically applied. A draft law establishing an independent human rights institution is being examined in Parliament. Some progress has been reported on the legislation on civil society organisations dealing with migrants, such as provisions governing the activities of civil society organisations carrying out search-and-rescue operations at sea, although concerns remain within an overall context where migration management in the EU is challenging.



I.Justice System The structure of the justice system is set out in the Constitution, which enshrines its independence and autonomy. The Constitutional Court decides on disputes regarding the constitutionality of laws. Ordinary courts have jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters and are organised in three levels of instances. The first level is composed of justices of the peace, ordinary courts and juvenile courts. The second and third level are made up of the Courts of appeal and the High Court of Cassation respectively. The administrative justice is organised in first-instance courts and second-instance courts. Jurisdiction in accounting matters is exercised by the Court of Auditors (with Regional and Central Chambers). Regarding fiscal matters, the responsible courts are fiscal courts at first and second instance and the High Court of Cassation at the highest level. The structure of the prosecution service mirrors that of the courts. Italy participates in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. According to the principle of unity of the judiciary, ordinary judges and public prosecutors are all magistrates, have a common career structure, and are governed by the High Council for the Judiciary (Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura - CSM). Administrative, accounting and fiscal magistrates have their own self-government bodies. The National Bar Council is an independent and self-governing body established by law. Independence The level of perceived judicial independence in Italy remains low. Despite a slight increase since last year, only 34% among the general public consider it to be ‘fairly or very good’. Among companies, there is a new decrease, which confirms the downward trend of the past 2 years, and now only 29% consider judicial independence to be ‘fairly or very good’ . Over the past five years, the level of perceived judicial independence remained consistently low. The draft law addressing challenges faced by the High Council for the Judiciary (CSM), including the way in which the members of the Council are elected, is still under discussion in Parliament. The High Council for the Judiciary had to face several challenges relating to the representativeness of its members and to the transparency of its procedure for appointment at high judicial positions . The draft law proposed by the Government in August 2020 aims at ensuring the independence of the members of the CSM vis-à-vis the professional associations, including by changing the rules for the election of its members and by enhancing the diversity of the Council’s members in terms of territorial origin and gender equality. Furthermore, the draft law also aims at drawing a stricter line between judicial and political functions. In April 2021, the CSM issued several opinions on the draft law, noting positive elements (e.g. the organisation of judicial offices , including the prosecutor’s office, a greater transparency in the appointment procedure for high positions and in some rules related to the professional evaluations procedure for magistrates ). It also raised some concerns, notably regarding the election system, where the CSM emphasised the risk of marginalisation of minorities, the discretionary power of the Ministry of Justice to build electoral colleges ahead to the election, and the potential reduction of pluralism among judicial members. Regarding the disciplinary regime, the CSM noted the risk of vagueness of the new disciplinary offences. On 26 March 2021, GRECO adopted its Second Compliance Report which discussed the direct participation of magistrates in political life. Despite progress achieved by the draft law, the recommendation assessed to be only partially implemented due to the fact that the draft law remains to be adopted. In March 2021, new policy lines on justice have been presented to Parliament by the Minister of Justice . It is important that these reforms take into account Council of Europe recommendations relating to the Council for the Judiciary, including the selection of their members , and to the status, career, liability and disciplinary regime for magistrates . Italy is cooperating with the Council of Europe in this respect. Further measures have been taken to address integrity challenges . The CSM has continued to introduce rules aimed to foster transparency and merit-based appointment in high positions . In addition, to further strengthen judicial independence, the CSM took measures to establish detailed provisions for magistrates on asset disclosure and systematic control, which have been welcomed by GRECO . The CSM has also opened a number of disciplinary proceedings , and in addition is taking into account in view of future professional assessments and appointment to managerial positions, any integrity challenge disclosed in 2020 by the criminal investigation which led to the resignation of five members of the CSM. Furthermore, the National Association of Magistrates has started applying disciplinary sanctions towards its members in case of violation of the ethical code of magistrates. Quality Human resources are being increased and further recruitment of both judicial and administrative staff is planned. Following the opinion of the CSM, in September 2020 the Ministry of Justice distributed the additional 600 magistrates posts among highest courts and prosecution service (70 units), first and second instance courts (422 units) and task force for flexible plants (176 units), and in March 2021 new staff (285 magistrates) started their traineeship. After a first suspension due to Covid-19 pandemic, competitions now resumed . Recruitments of more than 2000 members of administrative staff have been carried out through digitalised procedures in 2020 and 2021 . Following the 2020 Rule of Law Report which identified human resources as a particular challenge for Italy with an impact on the efficiency of the justice system, the Government has planned extraordinary measures to reinforce the Office of the Trial where administrative and judicial staff will cooperate in synergy through revised organisational modules . These measures plan the recruitment on fixed-term three-year contracts of about 16.500 graduates in law, economics and business and political science in order to provide magistrates with technical support , and of 1.600 young graduates, 750 specialised and 3.000 general high school graduates to support the judiciary and monitor projects of the Ministry of Justice such as digitalisation of proceedings and reforms. A proportion of this newly recruited staff will be assigned to the High Court of Cassation to reorganise civil chambers, including the ones dealing with tax cases. As far as administrative justice is concerned, there is still a relevant number of vacancies especially for first instance judges. However, in February 2021 a new procedure for the recruitment of 40 judges (further extended to 60) has been published and an increase of 130 administrative posts is planned. New recruitments for administrative justice are also envisaged with the aim to reinforce judicial offices, enhance digitalisation and monitor projects activity. The new measures to reduce backlogs and length of proceedings aim at addressing a long-standing country specific recommendation on the efficiency of the justice system . Digitalisation of the justice system continues to improve in civil and administrative courts, while challenges remain for the criminal sector . The digitalisation of proceedings at first and second instance civil courts has been completed , and has been launched at the Court of Cassation (civil section) and at Judges of Peace . However, it is less developed for criminal proceedings , where it is expected to start by the end of May 2021. A first step is envisaged through the digitalisation of the register used for the wiretapping procedure. As to administrative justice, during the Covid-19 pandemic, further progress was achieved in digitalised administrative proceeding by remote hearings . Besides civil and criminal decisions of High Court, online access to first and second instance rulings is moving slowly and is scheduled to be completed by 2023 only for civil rulings . Further digital improvements are on-going to increase online services with Judicial Offices by updating Portal of e-Services, PEC Registers and e-payment, and improve access to some services through SPID, the National Service Card and the Electronic ID Card. Remote working during Covid-19 pandemic sped up the implementation of remote access to some registers (civil litigious cases, voluntary jurisdiction and labour disputes, at first and second instance). In addition, a relevant amount of training is envisaged for the development of IT skills for managers, and for permanent and temporary staff recruited to support digitalisation and address backlogs . As to civil procedure draft law, the Government has prepared amendments to the draft text to address efficiency challenges, including by increasing the level of digitalisation of justice systems, which when finalised will be transmitted to the Parliament. The reform of the tax courts is still ongoing. The Commission of experts set up by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Economics and Finance should end its works for the preparation of the reform of the tax courts at first and second instance by 30 June 2021 . The reform would also aim at decreasing the high number of incoming cases at the High Court. In addition, several prevention, supervision and enforcement actions taken by the Presidency Council of Fiscal Courts to enhance professionalism and integrity of members of fiscal justice, as well as training and further digitalisation, were taken to address GRECO’s recommendation . Existing standards to improve the quality of judicial decisions are planned to be included in law. As noted in the 2020 Rule of Law Report, these standards are currently enshrined in a Memorandum of Understanding between the CSM and the National Bar Association and aim at improving the clarity and conciseness of judicial decisions. The Government has prepared amendments to include these standards in the draft laws for civil procedure.

The envisaged increase of digitalised services at proximity offices could further improve access to justice. As noted in the 2020 Rule of Law Report, a proximity office project is pursued by the Ministry of Justice aiming at improving access to courts by enhancing a service of justice closer to the citizens. Proximities offices are now established in fourteen regions out of twenty and are able to offer homogeneous services directed above all to vulnerable groups by enhanced involvement of local authorities and use of digitalised tools (e.g. sending of electronic documents to judicial offices and accessing information relating to pending proceedings through the use of digital platform). Efficiency Length of proceedings remains a serious challenge . Notwithstanding an increased clearance rate already above 100% in the civil sector, the estimated time needed to resolve civil and commercial litigious cases remains very high . Disposition time at first and second instance has decreased in 2019, while there was an increase at the High Court of Cassation, mainly due to tax and international protection cases . In 2020, the High Court registered a substantial decrease in incoming cases in the field of international protection, while incoming tax court cases with high rates of annulments , remain a serious challenge. Inadmissibility rates remain high . In 2020, administrative courts have continued to decrease the disposition time at all instances, while remaining above average . Positive results have continued in the area of public procurement . Italy remains under enhanced supervision of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers as regards length of proceedings in administrative cases . In criminal proceedings, the High Court reported a general increase of pending cases in 2020 , especially at highest level. This confirms an urgent need for measures to increase efficiency, especially at the appeal level . In addition, it has been reported that half of the ordinary procedure trials at first instance courts ends with an acquittal . Italy remains under enhanced supervision of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers also as regards length of proceedings in criminal cases . The draft laws to address the efficiency challenges are still under discussion in Parliament. The Government has presented amendments to the draft law aiming at efficiency gains in civil proceedings . These amendments include, amongst others, an increase of alternative dispute resolution , arbitration, assisted negotiation, a better focus on the preparatory and introductory phase of the proceedings, an enhanced digitalisation through remote hearings, a review of admissibility filters at appeal level, simplification of the appeal procedure and reorganising the office of the trial. In the field of criminal justice, the envisaged measures may include, amongst others, an improvement in the notification system, an extended access to special procedures (e.g. plea bargain), a wider intervention of the judge within the preliminary investigation phase, a selective access to appeal procedures, a reduction of overcriminalisation and novelties as regards criminal sanctions as well as restorative justice with a focus on victims. In addition, specific amendments may be introduced by the Government for the Office of the Trial to increase efficiency. The draft reform concerning the CSM and other aspects of the justice system is likely to further include provisions to support and facilitate efficiency gains (e.g. obligation for magistrates on managerial position to cover a certain time horizon to ensure an adequate planning of the office). II.Anti-Corruption Framework The National Anti-Corruption Authority is the main entity in charge of the prevention of corruption within the public administration supervising the adoption of the local three-year anti-corruption plans. The Anti-Corruption Unit of the Financial Police is responsible for the investigation and prevention of corruption as a specialised law enforcement body. As an independent authority at the Bank of Italy, the Financial Intelligence Unit for Italy provides support to the competent prosecutor’s office and cooperates with the Financial Police as the competent authority for receiving reports of suspicious financial transactions. The perception among experts and business executives is that the level of corruption in the public sector remains relatively high. In the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, Italy scores 53/100 and ranks 15th in the European Union and 52th globally . This perception has significantly increased over the past five years . Italy has a National Anti-Corruption Plan in place for the years 2019-2021. The central coordinating body for the plan is the National Anti-Corruption Authority. The plan, which is the overarching strategy for the prevention of corruption in the public administration, establishes the main policy objectives to prevent corruption, which are updated every year. The central themes of the 2021 update of the plan focus on public procurement as well as on the role and function of local anti-corruption officers that exist as focal points in every local administration . According to the Anti-Corruption Authority, these two issues will also be the main topics of the next three-year plan beyond 2021. The National Anti-Corruption Plan provides support to public administrations in the design and implementation of their entity-specific three-year action plans , with a current focus on public procurement and corruption risk mitigation. A monitoring system exists and main stakeholders consider it to function well . In November 2020, the Anti-Corruption Authority has launched an evaluation to assess the extent of the implementation of these local plans adopted by the public administrations . Legislative amendments to repress corruption and corruption-related crimes in a more consistent manner have entered into force. Notably, the amendments to the Criminal Code introduced stricter sanctions on fraud and widened the personal scope for international corruption . In addition, the legislation on abuse of office was modified by the decree to exclusively cover violations of rules of conduct provided for by law (or acts having the force of law) in order to reduce the level of discretion previously provided . Cooperation between the institutions fighting corruption works well, especially in the context of organised crime. Cooperation between the Financial Police, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Auditors, the National Anti-Mafia Directorate and the Anti-Corruption Authority on flagging suspicious activities has proved to be effective, particularly with regard to corruption in public tender procedures and illegality in the public administration . Similarly, the cooperation with customs and monopoly agencies is considered useful to uncover corruption in the larger context of organised crime infiltrating the economy and the public administration . According to the financial police and prosecutors, the resources and the level of specialisation of investigators and prosecutors as well as their access to information in relevant registries and databases is generally sufficient to carry out their tasks in the repression of corruption. Despite important recent legislative developments on the legal framework , a lack of resources and limited experience and legal expertise affect the capacity of law enforcement authorities to pursue and prosecute foreign bribery effectively . As a major exporter, Italy has recently dropped from active to moderate enforcement regarding foreign bribery , although attention to this form of crime has significantly increased compared to ten years ago . Efforts to fight corruption continue to be hampered by excessive disposition times, in particular at the appeal level. A draft law of March 2020 to improve the efficiency of criminal trials and to speed up proceedings in the Courts of Appeal continues to be examined at the Chamber of Deputies . Positive results in containing trial length had previously been recorded by first instance courts and the Court of Cassation . Up-to-date statistics on investigations of corruption by the police as well as on prosecutions and convictions by the courts for the year 2020 are not available and are expected to be published in the course of 2021 . Amendments to the stand-alone whistleblowers law are at the final legislative stage. Until adoption , the protection of whistleblowers in the private sector remains limited as it is based on voluntary compliance programmes that not all companies have instituted . In practice, the Anti-Corruption Authority does not have the mandate to receive whistleblowers disclosures from private sector employees or to issue sanctions . The extension of the scope of application to all companies with more than 50 workers will therefore be an important new level of protection for private sector whistleblowers. In June 2021, the Anti-Corruption Authority issued a new set of guidelines on whistleblowing. A legislative proposal on conflicts of interest for parliamentarians is still pending in Parliament. The draft law presented in May 2019 would amend and replace almost entirely the provisions of Law No. 215/2004 on Conflicts of Interest . It was approved by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies in October 2020, with an indicative timeline for the entry into force on 1 July 2021 . The proposal includes the introduction of stricter measures for members of national, regional and local government offices . The adoption of a formalised Code of Conduct Ethics has still not been achieved. Until the new law enters into force, legislation on conflicts of interest remains fragmented . Similarly, the publication of asset declarations for members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate remain fragmented and non-transparent. There is no law on lobbying towards members of the Government in place, but several draft laws have been presented to Parliament. The draft laws present the general framework for dealings with interest representatives based on the experience with the Transparency Registers of the Ministry for Economic Development and the Ministry of Labour . There is no specific reference to the introduction of a ‘legislative footprint’ but the Government has committed in the 4th National Action Plan for Open Government to establish a working group on the development of a unified national transparency register, including the public agendas of all decision-makers disclosing meetings with lobbyists . Until an operational lobby register, including a legislative footprint, is in place, regulation of lobbying vis-à-vis the government remains fragmented . The legislative proposal on conflicts of interest presented in 2020 provides for revised rules on post-employment (‘revolving doors’). In terms of scope, the proposal covers members of Parliament as well as top executive officials but does not extend to public officials directly related to ministers, such as heads of cabinets. The length of the proposed cooling-off period of one year is currently still under discussion . Italy prohibits direct public funding to political parties, including for political campaigns. Consequently, political parties need to finance themselves almost exclusively through private donations from individual donors or legal entities . This has created a significant reliance on parliamentarians to fund political campaigns from their own resources, making political actors more dependent on private donations and more vulnerable to undue influence . There is a relatively high ceiling for private donations at EUR 100,000 per year. However, the rules on the transparency of financing to political organisations in force since 2019 oblige parties to publish data on donations . Donations over EUR 500 received, in money or in-kind, need to be published along with the donor’s identity within one month from the date of reception. Failure to comply with the publication requirement is punishable with an administrative fine of three to five times the value of the non-reported donation. Foreign donations are banned. Concerns exist as to the capacities and resources of the oversight and supervisory bodies . The practice of channelling donations through political foundations and associations before they are transferred to political parties may present an obstacle to public accountability, as such transactions are difficult to trace and monitor . The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased the risk of corruption and corruption-related crimes being committed to further infiltrate the legal economy of Italy. According to the police, criminals have benefitted in particular from purchases of small private enterprises, such as restaurants in economic difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and of sanitary products, including face masks, protective equipment and medical gadgets, which can serve as a means to facilitate other corruption-related crime, such as money laundering. Furthermore, the Law Decree on measures for administrative simplification and digitalisation adopted in July 2020 also introduced a special regime for the award of public contracts . The measures focus on fast procedures and direct awards without official competition , on simplified award procedures and on sanctions for those who suspend or slow down the award and execution of public works, all of which risk to facilitate corruption . The Anti-Corruption Authority updated its public contracts’ database in September 2020 and produced new corruption risk indicators in the public procurement sector in December 2020. III.Media Pluralism and Media Freedom Freedom of expression and information, press freedom as well as the principle of transparency of media financing are enshrined in the Italian Constitution . Secondary legislation establishes a robust framework geared at ensuring media pluralism in the country while the independent converged media regulator, the Authority for Guaranteeing Communications (AGCOM), is established by law. The criminal penalty for defamation, which is of up to one year of imprisonment, is currently under review by the legislature while legislation is pending to transpose the AVMS Directive. Journalists must be registered in the Order of Journalists, which provides for self-government by the profession. The regulator for audiovisual media services, AGCOM, continues to function independently and effectively. In November 2020, AGCOM’s Observatory on Journalism published a report related, among others, to the journalistic profession during the COVID-19 pandemic and the many challenges journalists faced before and during the pandemic. It documents deteriorating working conditions, the increase in freelance work and other precarious work and a lack of a specialist knowledge among journalists, not least on COVID19-related subjects .

The Government provided financial support to the media sector to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the Italian government introduced a series of economic measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which have included certain media-specific measures, namely a tax credit for advertising expenditures; a tax credit for kiosks; a tax credit for technological investments in digital media and a tax credit for paper purchases . Parliament also approved the postponement of budgetary cuts which were scheduled to be made to the Fund for pluralism of information . Access to this fund is based on a series of objective criteria, i.e. only newspapers edited by cooperatives of journalists, non-profit publications and those catering for linguistic minorities, should be entitled to the public support. The Constitutional Court has held that in such a fundamental area, a transparent regulatory framework is required while the allocation of resources must be based on clear and objective criteria . The political independence of the Italian media remains an issue of concern in the absence of an effective law regulating conflicts of interest. Draft reforms are still pending in parliament in spite of the fact that the issue remains a key political topic in the country . While Italy’s leading newspapers are not directly or indirectly owned by politicians or political parties, editorial lines reflect the strong polarization of the Italian political scene. For these reasons, MPM2021 considers political independence in general and editorial autonomy in particular to be at medium risk . In Italy, we observe high concentration levels in all news media sub-sectors. Issues inhibiting effective access to information were reported. Italy’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulates ‘civic access’ to data and documents held by the public administration. MPM 2021 refers to independent reports which point out that the justifications provided by the authorities to refuse access to information are occasionally vague and not clearly grounded in the exemptions provided by the law. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the suspension of the FOIA regime between 28 February and 15 April 2020 was motivated on operational grounds rather than on public health protection grounds . The laws on defamation have not been amended and remain subject to parliamentary scrutiny. However, in the light of the pronouncements of the Constitutional Court on the matter described in detail in the 2020 Rule of Law Report and which were welcomed by press freedom organisations, MPM 2021 has lowered the risk level for this particular indicator . On 22 June 2021, the Constitutional Court found Article 13 of the Press Act - as far as it provides for the penalty of imprisonment for press defamation - to be unconstitutional and incompatible with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Physical attacks, death threats and other forms of intimidation against journalists remain an issue of concern. Since the last rule of law report eight alerts concerning Italy were registered by the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists . They have included arson attacks, physical attacks, cases of serious intimidation and online threats sent to the President of the Italian Press Association. One of the alerts, dated April 2021, refers to alleged wiretapping of at least 15 journalists working on migration issues as part of a public prosecutors’ investigation into relations between NGOs and traffickers. European and Italian associations representing journalists have described this as a very serious case and a "massive violation of the confidentiality of journalists' sources" . Despite the repeated requests made by the Italian Press Association, the protection of journalistic sources and the framework law on the professional secrecy of journalists remain inadequate . As a result, MPM, once again scores the indicator on journalistic profession, standards and protection as medium risk. Both MPM 2021 and several stakeholders have flagged the deterioration of journalists' working conditions, characterised by a growing gap between employed journalists and freelancers and a generalised reduction in newsroom staff, as an issue of major concern . The Italian Coordination Centre dealing with acts against journalists set up in 2017 and considered a best practice at EU level - registered a significant number of acts of intimidation, namely 163 such acts in 2020 and 63 such acts between January and March 2021 . IV.Other Institutional Issues related to Checks and Balances Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic with an indirectly elected President . The Parliament is bicameral: it comprises the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, both having the same powers. The right of legislative initiative is vested in the Government, the members of Parliament, 50 000 citizens, the National Council for Economics and Labour , and the Regional Council. Several regional ombudspersons are responsible for safeguarding the freedoms and rights of persons . The Inter-ministerial Committee for Human Rights (CIDU) interacts with civil society, academia, and all relevant stakeholders to promote and protect human rights. Ex ante regulatory impact assessments are regularly used, however public consultations and ex-post regulatory impact assessments are still limited . The Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers no. 169/2017 requires all public administrations to publish a six-month forward publication of information for each regulatory initiative. Yet, standardised procedures for stakeholder analysis have not been put in place . The increased use of digital tools for public consultations has slightly improved the effectiveness of the process. In particular, innovative and interactive tools that allow for a greater participation of users have been experienced through the use of platforms. In some cases, users also receive the public administration’s feedback . However, consultation are mainly carried out using traditional techniques . Ex-ante impact assessments are regularly used, and the use of ex-post assessments has started. In particular, in 2020, ex-post evaluations have been carried out on the acts which have been identified by the two-year plans of 2019 . The emergency situation regime related to the COVID-19 pandemic is still in place and a new parliamentary commission is to be set up to strengthen the role of Parliament during emergency situations. In April 2021, the Government extended the emergency situation regime until 31 July 2021, while adopting measures to progressively reduce restrictions. Measures to tackle the pandemic situation continued to be adopted by Government through decree-laws , which are immediately effective and are then converted by Parliament into Law . The President of the Council of Ministers may also directly adopt emergency measures, which take the form of a decree of the President of the Council of Ministers. In these cases, before the adoption, the Government has to present the content and main objectives of the decree to the Parliament. Where this presentation is not possible for reasons of urgency, a follow-up communication to the Chambers is provided, in general, every 15 days . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the first months of the emergency situation regime, Parliament decided to examine only urgent acts and any subject linked to the health emergency. Ordinary works were resumed in May 2020. In order to ensure a central role for Parliament during the COVID-19 pandemic and, more generally, during emergencies, the Senate proposed to set up a special bicameral Commission to be consulted on any act of the Government related to the pandemic emergency. This Commission, which remains to be established, would have a consultative function and would act as a link with the local entities . Some measures adopted by decree of the President of the Council of Ministers have been challenged before administrative courts, which had to assess on their proportionality with respect to limitation of fundamental rights . The provision related to the suspension of the course of the statute of limitation was challenged before the Constitutional Court, which did not find a risk of abuse of legislative power. No progress regarding the establishment of an independent human rights institution has taken place . The creation of an Independent National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) remains subject to debate . In October 2020, the two original draft proposals for the creation of a NHRI, tabled in 2018, were merged into one single proposal by the Parliament. The new text is currently being discussed in the Commission for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights of the Chamber of Deputies . The proposal would establish a NHRI, in line with the Paris Principles and the recommendations from the United Nations. The civic space continues to face challenges but certain aspects of the legislation regarding civil society organisations dealing with migrants have been improved. In October 2020, some improvements to the legislation regarding civil society organisations dealing with migrants were put in place, in particular provisions governing the activities of CSOs carrying out search-and-rescue operations at sea . Despite the pandemic, the cooperation with civil society organisations has been strengthened . However, concerns remain as regards the complexity of the registration process for NGOs and delays in the implementation of the law harmonising rules on the non-profit sector . Despite recent positive developments with the dismissal of the case against a human right defender active in the migration and asylum field, some concerns remain in this field . Moreover, the civic space is still considered as narrowed . Annex I: List of sources in alphabetical order* * The list of contributions received in the context of the consultation for the 2021 Rule of Law report can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/upholding-rule-law/rule-law/rule-law-mechanism/2021-rule-law-report-targeted-stakeholder-consultation . Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM), Osservatorio sul Giornalismo III edizione - La professione alla prova dell'emergenza Covid-19 - documento di consultazione pubblica, ( https://www.agcom.it/documents/10179/20594109/Comunicazione+23-11-2020/b6623771-dbaa-4ccb-baab-9520f87afbc8?version=1.0 ) Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (2021), Media pluralism monitor 2021 – Report on Italy (link to be added when available). CEPEJ (2020), Study on the functioning of the judicial systems in the EU Member States Civicus, Monitor tracking civic space – Italy ( https://monitor.civicus.org/country/italy/ ) Council of Europe: Conference of INGOs (2019), Civil participation in the decision-making process, Fact Finding Mission to Italy ( https://rm.coe.int/report-visit-of-the-conference-of-ingos-to-italy-2019/1680981493 ) Consultative Council of European Judges (2020), Opinion No. 23, The role of associations of judges in supporting judicial independence Council of Europe, Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists – Italy ( https://www.coe.int/en/web/media-freedom/italy )

Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers (2010), Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)12 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on judges: independence, efficiency and responsibilities. Council of State (2021), Contribution from the Council of State for the 2021 Rule of Law Report Council of the European Union (2019), Council recommendation of 9 July 2019 on the 2019 National Reform Programme of Italy and delivering a Council opinion on the 2019 Stability Programme of Italy ( https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019H0905(12)&from=EN ) Department for Legal and Legislative Affairs and the Department for Relations with Parliament (2021), Contribution from the Department for Legal and Legislative Affairs and the Department for Relations with Parliament for the 2021 Rule of Law Report Directorate-General for Communication (2019), Flash Eurobarometer 482: businesses’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU. Directorate-General for Communication (2020), Special Eurobarometer 502: corruption. European Commission (2020), 2020 Rule of Law Report - The rule of law situation in the European Union European Commission (2020), Recommendation for a Council recommendation on the 2020 National Reform Programme of Italy and delivering a Council opinion on the 2020 Stability Programme of Italy ( https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1591720698631&uri=CELEX:52020DC0512 ) European Commission (2021), EU Justice Scoreboard. Fundamental Rights Agency (2021), Contribution from the Fundamental Rights Agency for the 2021 Rule of Law Report G20 (2015), Anti-Corruption Open Data Principles ( http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2015/G20-Anti-Corruption-Open-Data-Principles.pdf ) GRECO (2019), Third Evaluation Round - Second Addendum to the Second Compliance Report on Italy on Incriminations and Transparency of Party Funding GRECO (2021), Fourth Evaluation Round - Second Compliance Report on Italy on corruption prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors Italian Anti-Corruption Authority (2020), Analysis of the articles of the Law Decree 16 July 2020 ( https://www.anticorruzione.it/portal/rest/jcr/repository/collaboration/Digital Assets/anacdocs/Attivita/Pubblicazioni/RapportiStudi/ContrattiPubblici/Anac.DL76.2020.pdf ). Italian Anticorruption Authority (2020), Corruption prevention and transparency ( http://www.anticorruzione.it/portal/public/classic/Comunicazione/News/_news?id=8e7b24b70a77804261ad277e20798ed6 ). Italian Anti-Corruption Authority (2020), Data analysis and construction of corruption risk indicators for the National Database of Public Contract, Working paper n. 5, ( http://www.anticorruzione.it/portal/rest/jcr/repository/collaboration/Digital%20Assets/anacdocs/Attivita/Pubblicazioni/Collana%20scientifica%20Autorita/Collana%20scientifica%20Anac%20-%20Matteo%20Tro%C3%83%C2%ACa%20WP%20n.5.pdf ) Italian Anti-Corruption Authority, Public contracts’ database (https://dati.anticorruzione.it/superset/dashboard/appalti/) (for data analytics), (https://dati.anticorruzione.it/opendata/) (for the open data platform). Italian Government (2019-2021), 4th National Action Plan for Open Government ( https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Italy-Action-Plan-2019-2021-English.pdf ) Italian Government (2021), Input from Italy for the 2021 Rule of Law Report. Italian Government, Consultazione Platform for public consultations, ( http://www.consultazione.gov.it/it/ ).

Italian Government, Partecipa Platform for public consultations ( https://partecipa.gov.it/?locale=en ) Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers - Department for Information and Publishing, Fondo per il pluralismo e l'innovazione dell'informazione ( https://informazioneeditoria.gov.it/it/approfondimenti-e-normativa/fondo-per-il-pluralismo-e-linnovazione-dellinformazione/ ). La Repubblica (2020), I Soldi di Change al Governantore: indagine sulla Fondazione di Toti ( https://genova.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/01/22/news/i_soldi_di_change_al_governatore_indagine_sulla_fondazione_di_toti-246332702/ ) Ministry of Interior: Department of Public Security, Central Direction of the Criminal Police (2020), Intimidatory Acts Perpetrated against journalists (https://www.interno.gov.it/sites/default/files/2021-03/report_intimidazioni_giornalisti_febbraio_2021.pdf). Ministry of Justice (2021), Contribution from the Ministry of Justice for the 2021 Rule of Law Report OECD (2017), Statement of the OECD Working Group on Bribery on Italy’s implementation of the Anti-Bribery Convention ( https://www.oecd.org/corruption/statement-of-the-oecd-working-group-on-bribery-on-italy-implementation-of-the-anti-bribery-convention.htm ) Ombudsman of Tuscany website ( http://www.difensorecivicotoscana.it ) Reporters without Borders (2021), World Press Freedom Index Transparency International (2020), Debugging Democracy, Open data for political integrity in Europe Transparency International (2020), Soldi e politica: cosa ci dicono i dati, ( https://www.transparency.it/informati/blog/soldi-e-politica-cosa-ci-dicono-i-dati ) Transparency International (2021), Corruption Perceptions Index 2020 ( https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2020/index/nzl ) Annex II: Country visit to Italy The Commission services held virtual meetings in April 2021 with: ·AGCOM (Media Authority) ·Anti-corruption Agency (ANAC) ·Anti-corruption Unit of the Financial police ·Antigone ·Article 21 ·Association of European Journalists ·Council for the Judiciary

·Council of State ·Court of Auditors and Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Auditors ·High Court of Cassation ·Infonodes ·Libera ·Ministry of Justice ·National Anti-mafia and Anti-terrorism Directorate (DNAA) ·National Association of Magistrates (ANM) ·National Bar Association ·National Federation of the Italian Press ·Ossigeno per l’informazione ·Parliament ·Presidency of the Council of Ministers ·Prosecution Service at the High Court of Cassation ·The good lobby ·Transparency International * The Commission also met the following organisations in a number of horizontal meetings: ·Amnesty International ·Center for Reproductive Rights ·CIVICUS

·Civil Liberties Union for Europe ·Civil Society Europe ·Conference of European Churches ·EuroCommerce ·European Center for Not-for-Profit Law ·European Centre for Press and Media Freedom ·European Civic Forum ·European Federation of Journalists ·European Partnership for Democracy ·European Youth Forum ·Front Line Defenders ·Human Rights House Foundation ·Human Rights Watch ·ILGA-Europe ·International Commission of Jurists ·International Federation for Human Rights ·International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network (IPPF EN) ·International Press Institute ·Netherlands Helsinki Committee ·Open Society European Policy Institute