Raffaele Lener – Independent authorities in financial Markets: Proposals for Reform

Universita’ di Bologna – Master In Law And Economics – Public Lectures In Law And Economics – Bologna, May 30, 2003

1. Origin and Development of the Independent Authorities in Italy

The proliferation of Independent Administrative Authorities in the past decade calls for an overall reflection upon their role and their position within the administrative system. A rethinking of the role of such Authorities, within a broader system, is also necessary to address growing criticism on the excessive and often scarcely coherent recourse to such bodies, which have undoubtedly certain exogenous elements in the context of the Italian traditional system of the state authorities, as commented in the course of the present paper.

The various phases in the development of the Independent Authorities may be summarised as follows.

Consob1 and ISVAP2 have been the first Italian Independent Authorities in Italy. They were established on the model of common law countries’ governmental agencies. This model was considered to better address the need for public supervision of private activities in the context of rapidly expanding markets which were at the time also subject to an unprecedented integration at both a domestic and international level. These two authorities have been originally set up respectively as a part of the Treasury and of the Ministry of Industry and only later acquired the status of Independent Authorities.

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Independent authorities in financial Markets: Proposals for Reform