Introduction

1. 8.1 The deadline for implementing the Prospectus Directive and the Prospectus Regulation expired on 1 July 2005. However, like other Member States, Italy has not yet complied with such deadlines.

2. 8.2 On 28 December 2005, the Italian Parliament adopted Law No. 262 (the ‘Law on Savings’), as subsequently modified, setting forth Provisions for protecting savings and regulating the financial markets. In particular, Article 12 of the Law on Savings, among others, authorised the Government to adopt a legislative decree, within eighteen months as of the date of its entering into force, in order to implement the provisions of the Prospectus Directive.

3. 8.3 On 28 March 2007, the Government, availing itself of such authorisation, issued Legislative Decree No. 51 (the ‘Implementation Decree’), by means of which the Prospectus Directive was finally implemented within the Italian legal system.

4. 8.4 In the period between the expiry of the deadline for implementing the Prospectus Directive and the Prospectus Regulation, the general principles of the EC system, as implemented in Italy, have been applied.

5. 8.5 In particular, according to Italian case law, unconditional directives having a sufficiently clear content – but which have not been implemented yet by Member States within the prescribed deadlines – are considered immediately applicable (so-called ‘self-executing directives’, i.e., those directives which do not require further actions for their implementation).

6. 8.6 Based on this principle, the competent authority of a Member State that has not formally implemented the Prospectus Directive will not be able to exempt itself from the application of the principles set by the same Prospectus Directive and the Prospectus Regulation, if so requested, even if different national rules apply.

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