OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform: Italy 2009
Better Regulation to Strengthen Market Dynamics
The review finds that Italy has made significant progress using regulatory reform since the first OECD review in 2001. Administrative simplification and the increasing role of competition policy, combined with devolution of state powers to regions, have helped. But there are still key challenges for regulatory policy and its implementation, including enforcement, capacity in the civil service, impact analysis for evidence-based decision-making, and building a culture of consultation. The current global economic crisis is an opportunity for Italy to further clarify how the state intervenes in the economy, to improve multi-level co-ordination, and to expand competition in specific sectors.
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Competition and Regulatory Reforms in Professional Services
This chapter discusses the core challenges for competition and regulatory reforms in professional services. The chapter presents the context for the 2006-07 reforms of liberal professions, the so-called Bersani reforms. The chapter analyses the various dimensions of conduct regulation, including prices, advertising, quality of services and forms of business, with a specific focus on pharmacists, engineers, architects, accountants and lawyers including notaries. This involves issues related to fee regulation and calculation methods, as well as the abolition of minimum and fixed prices. The chapter addresses the exclusive tasks for designated professionals, including limitations of notaries’ reserved tasks in the recent period as well as related issues for pharmacy services, with implications for the sales of OTC products.
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