The State-owned Maritime Concessions in Italy: the Cross-border Interest Issue and the Ongoing Reform of the Sector

Abstract

The Italian State-owned maritime concessions regulatory framework testifies the seminal impact of Title IV of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and of the Services Directive (Directive 2006/123/EC) on national administrative procedures. Recently, the Plenary Assembly of the Council of State (following the reasoning of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in joined cases C-458/14 and C-67/15 Promoimpresa and Mr. Melis), has confirmed the illegitimacy of the automatic extension of State-owned maritime concessions provided by the Italian law until 2033, as contrary to both Article 49 TFEU and Article 12 of the Services Directive. It has modulated the effects of the unlawfulness of the ongoing extension calling on the Italian legislator to reform the sector's regulations by the end of 2023. Therefore, both the legislator and the national administrations will have to find a balance between all relevant interests at stake in a transformed service market of bath tourism, since the beginning of the implementation of the Services Directive. Moreover, also in a case-by-case analysis of the 'scarcity of available natural resources', they both will have to consider the cross-border interest of these concessions as necessarily existing in re ipsa, whilst balancing this aspect with some peculiar features of the Italian bathing sector. Firstly, it is clear how the national legislator has to implement the EU law taking into account the concrete facts and context at stake. Secondly, the protection of private operators and of recipients is a basic condition not only for a general equitable and solidarity-based reform, but also for each selection procedure.