Offering Circular. - SFM

Pursuant to Law No. 20 of 14 January 1994 as amended, the Court of Accounts (Corte dei Conti), an
administrative and local finance court, exercises supervisory powers on the operations of the regions and, in
particular, on the achievement of the principle targets established by the Federalism Law. The Corte dei Conti
also monitors the accounting procedures of the regions (giurisdizione contabile), including compliance of
employees of the Region with such accounting procedures.
Pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 286 of 30 July 1999, regions were required to establish supervisory
bodies for internal control purposes, such as (a) control on administrative and accounting procedures and
compliance (controllo di regolarità amministrativa e contabile); (b) control on management activity
(controllo della dirigenza); (c) strategic control, which consists in an evaluation of consistency between
predetermined targets and results (valutazione e controllo strategico); and (d) control on operations
(controllo di gestione).
The Region of Lazio has implemented such internal control procedures.
Prior to the enactment of the Federalism Law, and in keeping with the Central Government’s tendency to
grant greater autonomy to the regions, the Central Government enacted the so-called Legge Bassanini (Law
No. 59 of 15 March 1997, as amended).
Pursuant to the Legge Bassanini, certain legislative and administrative powers previously exercised by the
Central Government are devolved to regions in a three-step process:
(i)
(ii)
enactment by the Central Government of legislative decrees assigning new powers to the regions;
implementation of the legislative decrees through the enactment of regional laws which also have the
purpose of transferring certain powers to the provinces and municipalities; and
(iii) transfer and assignment by the Central Government to the regions of the operating and financial
resources to support and fund the new functions through decrees of the Prime Minister.
Several legislative decrees were enacted which devolve to the regions certain administrative powers
contemplated by the Legge Bassanini including those relating to agricultural, labour, transport, trade, crafts,
industry, energy, mines, geothermal and water resources, fairs and markets, tourism, chambers of commerce,
environment, city planning, public works, roads, healthcare, social services, public education, sports, shows,
local and regional police. In particular, Legislative Decree No. 112 of 31 March 1998 transferred to the
regions several functions, of which the most important concern financial resources, productive activities,
transports, environment, healthcare. Certain decrees of the Prime Minister have been enacted to transfer
funds and personnel to the regions in support of the new functions. The Region has received the funds
contemplated by Legge Bassanini since the year 2000.
Currently, a reform is being reviewed by the Parliament which may have further effects on the transfer of
powers, in particular regarding the areas of education, local police and healthcare.
Regional Administration
Local Government. The Region of Lazio, like all ordinary Italian regions, is managed by a Regional Council
(Consiglio Regionale), a Regional Board (Giunta Regionale) and a Regional President (Presidente della
Regione) who is also chairman of the Regional Board. Regional Councils typically have legislative and
regulatory functions and are composed of between 30 and 80 Regional Councillors (Consiglieri Regionali),
depending on the population of the region that they represent. Lazio’s Regional Council is composed of 60
Regional Councillors. The electoral system provides that 80 per cent. of the Regional Councillors be elected
from provincial lists in exact proportion to the votes received by the political parties to which the candidates
belong. The remaining 20 per cent. of the Regional Councillors are elected by constituents on a majority
basis. Elections are held every five years.
The Regional Council has responsibility for the Region of Lazio’s policy and regulation. In particular, the
Regional Council is responsible, inter alia, for approving the regional by-laws and regional laws (for the
matters of competence of the Region of Lazio), for the Region’s accounts and budgets, for the Region’s
40