Name of the institution : Consiglio di Stato (Council of State) President : Mr. Paolo SALVATORE Address : Palazzo Spada Piazza Capo di Ferro 13 Roma 00186 ITALIE Phone number : (39) (06) 68.272.339 (Court) (39) (06) 68.272.340 (39) (06) 68.272.285 (39) (06) 68.273.108 (Presidency) Fax : (39) (06) 68.272.336 Internet : www.giustizia-amministrativa.it/

Composition and structure

Number of members :
111 members as follows : the President, 18 presidents of section and 92 councillors of State.

Recruitment procedures and incompatibilities :
A quarter of the councillors of State are appointed freely by the Council of Ministers. On the envisaged nomination the cabinet is nevertheless obliged to ask and to follow the advice of the Council of presidency of the administrative justice.
A quarter of the councillors are appointed upon the results of competitive exams.
The other half is appointed on designation of the said Council of Presidency, following merit and seniority from amongst the members of the regional administrative tribunals.
Members of the council of State have the right to accept certain offices (ministers, members of a house of parliament etc.) and may be authorized to accept other offices during the tenure of which they are excused from attending the council. They may be authorized to accept other positions compatible with their active services in the Council.

Internal organization :
- Four consultative sections, of which one on proposed new rules or regulations
- Three judicial sections ;
- Special (ad hoc) consultative commission ;
- A consultative general assembly, composed of all the members of the Council of State ;
- A plenary assembly of the judicial sections (13 members).

Publications :
- Reports to the President of the Council of ministers on the judicial activities of the Council (published with irregular frequency ) ;
- Several private reviews publish most of the decisions of the Council and certain number of its advices.

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Court functions

Jurisdiction :
The council has jurisdiction on acts of all administrative authorities, except when these authorties lack discretionary power and are placed on the same levels as iindividuals, in which case the dispute is considered to be one of civil law. The Council has a competence of " full jurisdiction " in matters of public services or works, of town and country planning, etc.

The jurisdiction of the Council includes also : litigation on all sort of public tenders and contracts permits revocations of commercial licences, claims concerning plans , building permissions and administrative sanctions in matters of town and country planning. The competence of the administrative judge (in " full jurisdiction ") concerning the civil service is limited to regulations, diplomats, directors, honorary civil servants and the police force. It encompass the whole military service. The rest of civil service litigation is reserved to the civil courts.The disputes on pecuniary administrative sanctions (not related to penal law) are handled by the civil courts.

Organization of the courts system :
The Council of State intervenes almost invariably in second and last instance (this is to say, on appeal against decisions of the regional administrative tribunals).

Powers of the judge :
Annulment ; very rarely surrogation of the administrative measure, sometimes decisions on compensation or damages for torts.

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Advisory functions

Existence and extent of an advisory authority :
1. Cases in which the consultation of the Council is compulsory (statute n°127 from May 15th 1997) :
- drafts of regulations to be signed by a minister or by the President of the Republic ;
- drafts of legislations or regulations unifying various previous texts;
- general models for certain types of contracts, agreements and conventions established by one or several ministers ;
- administrative decisions which are bound by the advice of the Council of State in the instances provided by legislation previous to the statute n°127/1997 ;
- extraordinary petitions to the President of the Republic (petition in-lieu-of litigation sent by citizens to the President of the Republic as a fountain of justice, which are transmitted then to one of the administrative sections of the Council of State. The latter formulates an advice : if the competent minister feels disinclined to follow it, he has to refer the case to the cabinet which is alone may vote to disregard the council's opinion).
2. Cases in which the Council may be consulted :
- bills and normative acts of the European Union ;
- any question concerning the interpretation of statutes or good administration which a minister may wish to submit to the Council.

Authority and publication of the advices :

	As already said, consultation given on extraodinary petitions to the President of the Republic is binding, except when the Cabinet decides otherwise. All other consultation only compels the administrative authorities to give reasons when they decide not to follow it.
	According with sections of Statute n. 205/2000, all consultations are made public.

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