Italian port law - current and future trends

This article offers an overview of the most relevant matters in the law relating to ports in Italy. In the first part, it introduces the legal nature of the Italian port system authorities (PSAs), both from the historical point of view and also in relation to emerging challenges in today’s global market. The article refers also to the changes in the organisation of ports and in their governance, as the fundamental pillar which led to the new shape of PSAs is considered to be the separation between supervision of port activities and the exercise of economic activity. Later, the authors present the question of issuance and the renewal of public concessions to perform port operations, as well as the problem of fair and non-discriminatory access to port infrastructures, pointing out the regulatory efforts in these matters made by the Italian Transport Regulation Authority and by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. The article highlights, however, the possible problems and legislative needs that emerge from the plurality of the bodies involved in the field of port concessions under Italian law. The article refers also to the corporate tax regime applicable to the Italian ports, as it was subject to an investigation made by the EU Commission. Finally the authors consider the possible changes in the Italian legal regime of seaports in order to ensure the compliance of the national port policy with the EU market.