19/07/2005

The Italian Constitutional Court has just censured some passages of the ministerial Statute organising the new system of state aids for film production launched by the former Minister of Culture, Giuliano Urbani. According to the Constitutional Court, some measures cannot be decided only at State level but require prior consultation with the regions and the independent provinces.

The unconstitutionality in question lies in the rule which states that the aid granted to production companies is determined by ministerial decree. What is denied is the general director of the cinema section of the Ministry's competence to establish on his own the ceiling for financial aids to production and his power to authorise or not the creation of multiplexes of more than 1,800 seats. So, the Constitutional Court satisfies part of the claim filed by the regions Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, who rejected en-bloc the ministerial Statute regulating areas which do not depend solely on the State.

(Translated from Italian)