Italy / Lazio Regional Administrative Tribunal / 201509411

Ministry of Justice - Commission on bar examinations v Giulia Sandulli
Policy area
Justice, freedom and security
Deciding body type
National Court/Tribunal
Typ
Decision
Decision date
14/07/2015
  • Italy / Lazio Regional Administrative Tribunal / 201509411

    Key facts of the case:

    The Lazio Regional Administrative Tribunal was required to rule over the complaint filed by Giulia Sandulli against her non-admission to the oral test of the bar examinations (2013 session). The decision had been issued by the Bar Examinations Board (session 2013–2014) of the Ministry of Justice – established within the Naples Court of Appeal – and displayed at the Rome Court of Appel on 20 June 2014. In the plaintiff’s opinion, the decision made by the Ministry of Justice did not abide by the minimum conditions of clarity and transparency that shall be complied with by public administration acts: in fact, the abovementioned decision included only the numerical marking obtained by Giulia Sandulli, without providing any additional information about the reasons that led to consider her written test below the minimum threshold for admission to the oral test.

    Outcome of the case:

    In this case, the Lazio Regional Administrative Tribunal ruled that the decision made by the Ministry of Justice did not comply with the minimum conditions of transparency necessary to make the act understandable for citizens and guarantee the right to justice (Article 24 of the Italian Constitution) and the right to good administration (Article 97 of the Italian Constitution and Article 41 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights). For this reason, in the opinion of the Lazio Regional Administrative Tribunal, the decision made by the Ministry had to be annulled, and a new commission had to be established in order to examine Giulia Sandulli’s written test again.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter

     

    The lack of motivation directly affects the administrative act, thus hindering compliance with the parameter set out in Article 3 of Law No. 241/1990, interpreted in the light of the impartiality constitutional principles and of Article 41 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which expressly sets out the obligation to state reasons as an aspect of the right to good administration.