National legislation: Government''s draft regulatory measures and Bills; involvement in matters vested into the Regions; Community Bill (and Yearly Report on Italy''s Membership of the EU)

The 14th Committee issues an opinion on every Bill which may raise questions of compliance with Community legislation and on bills implementing treaties and Community measures. In such cases, the relevant opinion is sent to the standing committee having jurisdiction over the matter at hand.

The 14th Committee also advises the Government on draft legislation concerning such issues, either directly in the case of EU institutions and general policies or through the appropriate committee in all other cases. Following the constitutional reform of 2001 which gave Regions broader authorities concerning relations with the EU, the development of Community measures and the implementation of EU measures. The new Senate Rules, which came into effect after the transformation of the previous committee into a Standing Committee, empower the 14th Committee to examine bills and draft legislation introduced by the Government. In examining the development and implementation of EU measures, the 14th Committee must take into account the compliance of national legislation with EU law and the relations between Regions and the EU. Finally, the 14th Committee ascertains the compliance of all of the above with the principle of subsidiarity with respect to the relations between the EU and the State or the Regions. This function already finds concrete application in the Senate, as requested by the Draft Constitutional Treaty and, more particularly, its section envisaging parliamentary scrutiny over draft Commission measures and the application of the subsidiarity principle.

The Rules adopted in 2003 strengthened the Committee's advisory function on bills and amendments examined and adopted by a standing committee acting with a legislative remit, i.e. under a procedure whereby the final vote of the Senate is not required. If such committee does not conform to the opinion issued by the 14th Committee, the legislative remit is withdrawn and the regular procedure - which requires a Senate vote - is applied instead. This power is similar to that of the 1st Standing Committee (Constitutional Affairs), which oversees compliance of new Bills with the Constitution, and the 5th Standing Committee (Budget), which scrutinises all spending bills.

In order to harmonise the work of the 14th Committee with that of other standing committees, the Rules of 2003 establish that the members of a standing committee who are also members of the 14th Committee should report on the measure's compliance with European law, as examined by the 14th Committee.

The new Rules also empower the 14th Committee to scrutinise and report on the yearly Community Bill. Such Bill is scrutinised differently from other Bills examined by committees acting as reporting bodies; scrutiny time is shorter and the procedure followed resembles those of budget measures: all in all, this may be considered a special procedure. After passage of the Community Bill, the 14th Committee presents a general report to the Senate, to which the reports produced by other Committees are attached. The scope of the Community Bill is provided in Law 9 March 1989, no. 86 (La Pergola Act); its aim is to ensure through yearly Bills that such obligations relating to Italy's membership of the European Union are complied with as those deriving from: a) regulations, directives, decisions and recommendations (ecsc) binding Italy to adopt implementation measures; b) Court of Justice rulings on non-compliance of national laws with the treaties. The Community Bill accounts for a quick, timely and effective instrument to fulfil Italy's obligations as an EU member country.

Mention should be made in this chapter of the 14th Committee's comprehensive yearly scrutiny of Italy's action within the European Union, as detailed in the Government's Report. This procedure runs parallel with the scrutiny of the Community Bill and the same special provisions apply (i.e. shorter scrutiny time and general report to the House with other Committees' reports attached thereto).