The Court of Auditors is an institution of constitutional importance. As set forth in the Italian Constitution, it has key review and jurisdictional functions. It was established in 1862.

1. THE COURT OF AUDITORS
July 2021

2. A BIT OF HISTORY
The Court of Auditors is an institution of
constitutional importance. As set forth
in the Italian Constitution, it has key
review and jurisdictional functions.
It was established in 1862 under
Law 800/1862 to monitor state
administrations and impose sanctions
for any waste and poor financial
management it detected.
It is the oldest magistrature in Italy.
Traditionally, its offices are located in the
Capital of Italy. So, today its offices are in
Rome, but in the past, they were in Turin
and in Florence.

3. FUNCTIONS
❯ preventively, the lawfulness
of government acts;
❯ subsequently, the state
management of the budget;
❯ the financial management
of Public Bodies and State-
participated Undertakings;
❯ the financial coverage
provided by Laws that entail
new or greater spending,
or lower revenues (Art. 17,
Law 196/2009, as already
set out in Law 468/1978
whether local Administrations
and the National Healthcare
Service meet the objectives of
the Internal Stability Pact (Law
266/2005, Art. 1, para. 166 and
subsequent amendments and
modifications).
And:
❯ certifies that the costs of
collective contracts are in line
with the government planning
and budgetary instruments
(Art. 47, Legislative Decree
165/2001);
❯ verifies regional financial
reporting (Decree-Law
174/2012, Art. 1, para. 5).
The Court of Auditors
monitors public
finances, or better, it
verifies that taxes are
properly spent.
According to Article
100 of the Italian
Constitution, the Court
of Auditors reviews:

4. The Court of Auditors is organised
according to Royal Decree no. 1214,
12 July 1934.
The Court is made up of magistrates,
among which the following positions
are appointed:
❯ the President and Adjunct President;
❯ the Council of the Presidency;
❯ the Prosecutor General.
ORGANISATION

5. LA FORMAZIONE DEI GRUPPI
E IL TRASFORMISMO (IL CASO LeU)
They are appointed via a decree
of the President of the Republic
after being recommended by the
Prime Minister, who has listened
to the opinion of the Council of the
Presidency.
The President may only leave office
after voluntarily resigning or upon
retirement after reaching the age
limit.
The government appoints one
of the Court’s magistrates to
serve as the President of the
Court. They are required to have
been a magistrate at the Court
of Auditors for at least three
years, to have served as Chamber
President or the equivalent for
national constitutional bodies or
EU institutions.
The longest-serving President of the Court of Auditors was
Augusto Duchoqué-Lambardi, with 27 years of service.
THE PRESIDENT

6. FUNCTIONS OF THE PRESIDENT
The President has both a political
and institutional role. He also
allocates financial resources to the
Office of the General Secretary and
to the Court’s Heads of Chambers.
He is responsible for institutional
information and communication and
also organises the functions of all the
Offices of the Court.
The current President is Guido Carlino.

7. THE ADJUNCT PRESIDENT
In 2004 (Law 45/2004) the
office of the Adjunct President
was added. Acting as a Chamber
President, the Adjunct President
assists the President and
substitutes him in the event of
absence or impediment.
He is an ex officio member of
the Council of the Presidency
and presides over the
Permanent Commission to
Monitor the Productivity of the
Magistrates’ Offices.
The Adjunct President is
appointed via a decree of the
President of the Republic.
Delegated by the President,
the Adjunct President
assigns appeals against
the first-instance rulings of
the Regional Jurisdictional
Chamber to the appropriate
Central Jurisdictional Appeals
Chamber.
The current Adjunct President is Raffaele Dainelli.

8. COUNCIL OF THE PRESIDENCY
The Council of the Presidency
is the Court’s self-governing
body (Art. 10, Law 117/1988
and Art. 11, Law 9/2009) and
is made up of:
❯ the President;
❯ the Prosecutor General;
❯ the Adjunct President or, in
his place, the eldest Chamber
President;
❯ four elected members:
two elected by the Chamber
of Deputies and two by the
Senate of the Republic. They
must be either tenured law
professors or lawyers who
have been practicing for at
least 20 years;
❯ four members elected by
and from among the Court
magistrates and representing
different qualifications.
The term of the elected
members lasts four years
and they cannot be re-
elected for another eight
years from the end of their
term.

9. FUNCTIONS OF THE COUNCIL
OF THE PRESIDENCY
The Council has jurisdiction in all matters
relating to the functions of the Court. It also:
❯ monitors magistrates’ activities;
❯ ensures magistrates are properly trained and
receive continuing education;
❯ formulates proposals regarding the
organisation, compliance and modernisation of
the Court’s facilities and services;
❯ examines the Court’s budget and prepares
proposals also on the organisational and
structural aspects of its services;
❯ may order inspections or promote enquiries.

10. LA FORMAZIONE DEI GRUPPI
E IL TRASFORMISMO (IL CASO LeU)
appointed via a decree of the
President of the Republic
and recommended by the
Prime Minister from among
the magistrates of the Court
of Auditors who are Chamber
Presidents, designated by the
Council of the Presidency.
The Prosecutor General is assisted
by the Adjunct Prosecutor General,
who may replace him in the event
of absence or impediment.
The Prosecutor General is a
public prosecutor who acts in
the public interest to safeguard
the law and ensure the proper
management of public goods.
They are responsible for appeals
and are head of the Office of
the Prosecutor General at the
Court of Auditors. The Prosecutor
General also coordinates the
Regional Prosecution offices.
The Prosecutor General is
The current Prosecutor General is Angelo Canale.
THE PROSECUTOR GENERAL

11. CENTRAL AND
LOCAL CHAMBERS
The Court is organised into Jurisdictional
Chambers and Audit Chambers, both at
the central and local level.
At the central level, we find:
❯ the Public Prosecutor’s Offices,
headed by the Prosecutor General
and 20 Deputy Prosecutors General;
❯ the Audit Chambers;
❯ the Jurisdictional Chambers.

12. CENTRAL AUDIT CHAMBERS
They are the ones for:
❯ ex ante Compliance
Audit of the State
Administrations Acts;
❯ the Performance Audit
on the Management of
State Administrations;
❯ Public Bodies and State-
participated Undertakings;
❯ EU and International
Affairs;
❯ Local Authorities.
There are three Central
Chambers of Appeal
with offices in Rome,
with the exception of
the Sicily Region, whose
Appeal Chamber is in
Palermo.

13. There are Regional offices
of the Court in all the Regions
and Autonomous Provinces.
They are organised into
Regional Audit and Jurisdictional
Chambers, as well as the
Regional Prosecutor’s Offices.
The United Chambers for
Audit rule in case of conflict of
jurisdiction on audit matters.
They are divided into four
chambers, with jurisdictional,
audit, deliberative and
consultative functions and their
offices are in Rome.
There are three special
chambers for Sardinia, Sicily
and Trentino-Alto Adige.
THE UNITED CHAMBERS FOR AUDIT
AND REGIONAL OFFICES

14. A FEW “CONTROVERSIAL” RULINGS

15. 2013: THE CASE
OF THE PIEDMONT NURSE
According to a ruling of the Piedmont
Court of Auditors, a nurse from the
Molinette Hospital in Turin had to pay
the Region damages for a patient
who fell off a stretcher in 2006 “due to
administrative liability”.
As she had no insurance coverage for
occupational hazards, for the hospital,
who had paid damages to the patient,
this constituted a financial loss for the
State.
The nurse later appealed and was
cleared of all charges (Ruling no.
677/2016).

16. In recent years the Court of Auditors
has ordered various officials and
public Director General to pay the
Italian public administration millions
in damages for financial losses or
reputational damage.
One well-known case regards the
heads of the Public Debt Department
at the Ministry of Economy and
Finance who were sentenced by
the Court of Auditors (Ruling
no. 346/2018) for unlawfully
paying Morgan Stanley 4bn
euros to comply with an Additional
Termination Event clause in some
derivative contracts signed with
the investment bank.
THE MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND
FINANCE AND MORGAN STANLEY

17. PUBLICLY PARTICIPATED COMPANIES
OF THE CITY OF ROME
The Lazio Regional Review
Chamber published the Report
on the management of the City of
Rome’s shareholdings (Decision no.
47/2021), pointing out:
The main targets of the Court were:
❯ Atac, the local public transport
company;
❯ Roma Servizi per la Mobilità, which
manages restricted traffic zones,
parking and local public transport;
❯ Roma Metropolitane, a company that
plans and builds new underground
lines in Rome, extends and modernises
the existing lines and prepares plans to
build alternative mobility systems;
❯ Zètema, the company that manages
the city museums.
the need to reorganise
such supervision in order to
increase efficiency.
“

18. THE REITHERA VACCINE
In early 2021 the Court of Auditors blocked financing
for ReiThera’s plans to develop an Italian Covid
vaccine (Decision no. 10/2021) because:
❯ the investment plan would not have
complied with the condition in the Ministerial
Decree of 9 December 2014, i.e.
❯ expenses are admissible and not, according to
the plan submitted, for
ReiThera’s general purposes
- production or research
purposes, also for third
parties.
if they are required
for the purposes of
the project which the
subsidies have been
requested for
“

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