The Italian Council of Ministers approved a new Legislative Decree reforming the Italian Public Procurement regulation, implementing Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/24/EU.

On April 18, 2016, the Italian Government definitively approved Legislative Decree no. 50, implementing Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and European Council of 26 February 2014 “on public procurement and awarding concession contracts, procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and on the reorganization of the Public Procurement Regulation” (New Code). The New Code’s entry into force on April 19, 2016 is likely to produce uncertainties for economic operators, pending the competent authorities’ issuance of the relevant soft-law instruments (i.e. general guidelines which the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (Ministero delle Infrastrutture e dei Trasporti) will issue based on input from the National Anti-bribery and Corruption Authority (ANAC). Pending the issuance of such soft-law instruments, certain provisions implementing the previous Italian Public Procurement Code will continue to be valid.

This Client Alert briefly summarizes the main changes following this reform.