Council of State (Italy)


The Consiglio di Stato is a legal-administrative consultative body that ensures the legality of public administration in Italy. The council has jurisdiction on acts of all administrative authorities, except when these authorities lack discretionary power, in which case the dispute is considered to be one of civil law.

Authority

The council derives its authority and powers from several articles in the Constitution of Italy.
Article 100:
Article 103:
Article 111:

Advise

The council has consultation authority in several different cases defined by statute.
  1. Cases in which the consultation of the Council is compulsory :
  2. # drafts of regulations to be signed by a minister or by the President of the Republic;
  3. # drafts of legislations or regulations unifying various previous texts;
  4. # general models for certain types of contracts, agreements and conventions established by one or several ministers ;
  5. # 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;
  6. # extraordinary petitions to the President of the Republic.
  7. Cases in which the Council may be consulted:
  8. # bills and normative acts of the European Union;
  9. # any question concerning the interpretation of statutes or good administration which a minister may wish to submit to the Council.

    Structure

The council has 111 members: the President, 18 presidents of section and 92 councillors of State: