League introduces its bill to limit powers of superintendencies

After the first unsuccessful attempt in the culture dl, the League is now trying again: in fact, a bill has been presented that aims to limit the power of the Superintendencies in matters of landscape authorizations . The first assault, in January, had gone unsuccessful: the Lega had proposed an amendment to Minister Alessandro Giuli’s Culture Decree , which was declared inadmissible, however, and then withdrawn. The idea of the League was to make the opinions of the superintendencies no longer binding , except for some specific cases (excluding, therefore, cultural and monumental heritage). An idea that now returns in Bill 1372, presented in the Senate on the initiative of Senators Marti, Bergesio, Bizzotto, Borghi, Cantù, Dreosto, Murelli, Potenti and Pucciarelli. The rationale, according to the proponents, is to “revise the role of the superintendencies within the landscape authorization procedures, with a twofold purpose: on the one hand, to ensure the protection of cultural and landscape heritage in a more effective and targeted manner; on the other hand, to simplify administrative procedures to prevent the public administration from becoming an obstacle to the economic and territorial development of the country.”

According to the leghists, in fact, the number of practices on which the superintendencies are called upon to express their opinion is too high, and these practices do not always, the proposing senators write in the bill’s report, “concern great monuments or works of particular historical and artistic value.” Therefore, instead of strengthening the superintendencies with new staff, the path followed by the League is to thin out the files by introducing regulatory changes: more decision-making autonomy for municipalities (for “interventions of minor impact”), “certain times for the expression of the opinion of the superintendencies,” and, in general, fight against “bureaucratic red tape.” The law will act on the Cultural Heritage Code.

There are three articles of which the bill is composed: the first states the rationale for the reform, the second establishes provisions on landscape authorization procedures, and the third gives delegated power to the government to reorganize landscape authorization procedures. How do the legistas intend to proceed? The bill amends the Cultural Heritage Code (Legislative Decree. 42 of Jan. 22, 2004) with four changes: the superintendent is given a maximum of 45 days to express his opinion, after which a silence-assent is deemed to have been formed and the competent administration takes action on the permit application; the opinion of the superintendent is made non-binding and mandatory in the cases provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 152 of the Code (openings of roads and quarries, laying of pipelines for industrial and civil installations, piling in historic centers or in scenic beauty accessible to the public, or near of properties of outstanding natural beauty or historical memory, or of villas, gardens and parks that are distinguished by uncommon beauty); the remaining two amendments extend the principle of silence-consent for permit applications by owners, possessors or dentetors of properties affected by interventions that require the administrative authority’s determination of landscape compatibility.

Finally, the League’s bill grants a delegation of authority to the government to adopt, within six months of the eventual effective date of the law should it be passed, one or more legislative decrees to organically revise landscape authorization procedures. “With these measures,” the Leghist senators conclude in the bill’s report, “the aim is to ensure greater legal certainty, faster timeframes for administrative decisions and a more rational distribution of powers between state and local autonomies. All without compromising the quality of landscape protection, which, on the contrary, will benefit from more selective and effective intervention by the superintendencies.”

Image: the Ministry of Culture. Photo: Finestre Sull’Arte

League introduces its bill to limit powers of superintendencies

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