di Renato Ibrido

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa. – 2. Il problema della “neutralità costituzionale” del processo di ammodernamento tecnologico e digitale del Parlamento. – 3. Reingegnerizzazione del processo di decisione parlamentare e “neutralità politica” dell’innovazione tecnologica. – 4. I Parlamenti nell’età della rivoluzione tecnologica. – 5 Un ulteriore obiettivo della reingegnerizzazione del processo di decisione parlamentare: riconnettere drafting legislativo e procedure parlamentari

The paper introduces two research questions, that we could define as the problem of “constitutional neutrality” and “political neutrality” of the technological transformation of Parliaments. First of all, the paper reflects about the potential alteration of the normal equilibrium between representative democracy and other type of democracies triggered by technology evolution (“constitutional neutrality”). Secondly, the paper aims to evaluate the impact of the technologies for Parliaments on the relationship between majority and the opposition (“political neutrality”). According to our research hypothesis, the parliamentary decision-making process should be radically “reengineered” in order to preserve the correct constitutional and political balances in the context of “technological revolution”. In particular, this strategy requires to “reconnect” the design of parliamentary procedures with the drafting techniques. Indeed, the bad quality of legislation negatively affects the linearity of parliamentary procedures and vice-versa.

di Giovanni Piccirilli

The Italian government developed very limited practice of new technologies applied to legislative. Indeed, most of the processes take place, on purpose, in paper form, with the specific aim of centralizing the processes and maintaining the monopoly of drafting in the hands of a few and selected offices of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. However, by observing relevant recent practices it is possible to grasp interesting insights into the development of government dynamics between the pandemic and the implementation of the NRRP.

di Marina Pietrangelo

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Il contesto della digitalizzazione pubblica (una premessa storica). - 3. Le ICT nel ciclo della regolazione regionale: dagli ambienti di normazione alle banche dati normative sul web. - 4. Per concludere.

The essay examines the impact of ICT in the regional regulatory cycle. The reflection highlights delays and strengths in the use of ICT by regional legislative assemblies, especially analyzing legal drafting and communication via the web.

di Enrico Albanesi

SOMMARIO: 1. Prospettive di diritto costituzionale, ambito ed ipotesi di ricerca. – 2. La gestione del multilinguismo istituzionale nelle procedure decisionali europee: la buona qualità della legislazione come presupposto di un’efficace traduzione degli atti normativi e le competenze giuridiche e linguistiche degli apparati delle Istituzioni europee. – 3. Gli strumenti di traduzione assistita (CAT tools) in uso nelle procedure decisionali europee. – 4. Dimostrazione delle ipotesi di ricerca: a) i risultati offerti dai CAT tools sono trasparenti, a condizione che un umano (esperto) sia incaricato di verificarne i risultati; – 5. (segue): b) residua sufficiente spazio per l’intelligenza umana; – 6. (segue): c) i CAT tools contribuiscono a ridurre problemi in sede di attuazione interna degli atti normativi dell’Unione europea. – 7. Conclusioni.

The essay analyses, from a perspective of constitutional law, the role of computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools to deal with multilingualism within the EU legislative process. The essay suggests that CAT tools are of a great help in translating EU legal acts; they are transparent, provided that human experts are in charge and verify the output of the software; they do not jeopardise the role of human intelligence. At the same time, they can play an important role also with regard to the implementation/transposition of EU legal acts.

di Andrea Cardone

SOMMARIO: 1. Un problema di “neutralità costituzionale”. – 2. I livelli di incidenza delle nuove tecnologie sulla produzione del diritto legislativo: le strutture parlamentari. – 3. Il crowdsourcing policymaking. – 3.1 (segue): le ICT nel modello europeo di partecipazione popolare ai procedimenti normativi. – 3.2 (segue): le esperienze finlandese e islandese di crowdsourcing legislation nel campo dell’iniziativa legislativa. Il modello italiano in attesa di attuazione-. – 3.3 (segue): il crowdsourcing applicato all’istruttoria legislativa. I modelli brasiliano e cileno. – 3.4 (segue): l’embrionale esperienza italiana in tema di apertura del procedimento legislativo. – 4. La produzione algoritmica di emendamenti. – 5. Luci e ombre nell’applicazione dell’A.I. alla produzione del diritto legislativo.

The purpose of this essay is to contribute to a reflection, which is also beginning to make its way into Italian constitutionalist thinking, on the role that the so-called “new technologies” - particularly algorithms and, more generally, ICTs - play, and can play, in the adoption of political decisions. The perspective that is taken if we look, in particular, at the diffusion of algorithms in the field of parliamentary decisions, which can be taken as paradigmatic of general and abstract decisions, shows that the issue poses essential questions for constitutional law

di Maria De Benedetto

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa. – 2. Qualità della legislazione, in sé e per sé. – 3. Qualità della legislazione tra scienza e tecnica. – 4. Legislazione e tecnologia: quantità o qualità? – 5. Qualità della legislazione e tecnologia: un approccio di processo. – 6. Considerazioni conclusive.

Legislation has been long time subject of a dedicated science (science of legislation) and of a specific technique (legislative drafting). While in both perspectives quality of legislation has been considered relevant, nowadays the problem seems how achieving quality of legislation in a context characterized by highly accelerated technological innovation. From this point of view, quality vs quantity of legislation may be a real criterion in order to choose among technological solutions as well as to manage them effectively in the legislative process. Moreover, the article shortly analyze, in a procedural and critical way, some of the technological solutions with potential impact on quality of legislation by concluding that the artisanal dimension in the legislative process (based on the primacy of the human) should be strengthened, as far as possible, to maximize the contribution of technological innovation to legislative quality.

di Stefano Pietropaoli

SOMMARIO: 1. Considerazioni introduttive. - 2. Un (falso) problema: la personalità giuridicamente rilevante degli enti dotati di AI. - 3. Il (vero) problema: il diritto è computabile? - 4. Avvocati, magistrati e notai: professioni computabili? - 5. Dal legislatore umano al legislatore non umano (o transumano)?

The first IT applications to law concerned merely auxiliary functions. But over time, the use of computers in the legal field has become susceptible to increasingly sophisticated functions. It is no longer a question of mere support tools for the legislative function, as could be software solutions dedicated to drafting or AI applications to assess the impact of new provisions introduced in a given legal system. Artificial intelligence could be used for purposes other than the expression, dissemination and amendment of human legislation. A possible scenario is one in which the formation of the law is entrusted ab origine to intelligent systems: the problem of translation from natural language to machine language would thus be definitively overcome, because the law would be born as a code immediately comprehensible to the machine. It would therefore be a matter of rules produced by machines for machines. But would that normative framework still be ‘law’?

di Luca Di Majo

SOMMARIO: 1. Il Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza e la better regulation. - 2. Da end users a expertise. - 3. Better regulation e expertise. - 4. La tecnologia al servizio delle consultazioni: l’albo digitale dell’expertise e la condivisione in cloud del dato scientifico. - 5. Verso un e-law making process?

The role and the functions of expertise is an issue within the broader dimension of better regulation. The penetration of technical-scientific data in the regulation process is a positive aspect if the source is regulated, the transparency and knowability of the data is guaranteed, and the absence of conflict of interest between expertise and end users is ensured. The digital register of experts and the sharing of data in the cloud (although side issues with respect to the vast topic of better regulation). could help to make the rule less ambiguous and more intelligible.

di Federico Galli e Giovanni Sartor

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione: l’obiettivo della better regulation. – 2. Un nuovo paradigma per la better regulation: i big data e l’IA. – 3. Raccolta dei dati: costi e limiti. – 4. L’analisi e l’uso dei dati attraverso l’IA per la pianificazione delle leggi. – 5. Dati e modelli per il monitoraggio e la valutazione della regolazione. – 6. La necessità di un’etica dei dati per il settore pubblico. – 7. Conclusione.

This paper analyses the prospects of using big data and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to improve legislation (better regulation), in particular by means of impact assessment. After a brief background on the topic of better regulation, the new paradigm based on big data and AI will be investigated. The three phases of the data-centred regulation cycle will be tackled in succession, namely, (1) data collection and creation, (2) ex-ante impact analysis for policy planning and regulation design, and (3) ex-post monitoring and evaluation. Finally, the challenges for an acceptable use of AI and big data will be explored, focusing on the need to conform public action to a legal-ethical framework for data management and use.

di Elena Griglio e Carlo Marchetti

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione. Digitalizzazione e drafting: sulla rilevanza di una riflessione dedicata all’esperienza parlamentare. – 1.1. La digitalizzazione tra le grandi sfide della democrazia parlamentare e il lavoro invisibile delle assemblee legislative. – 1.2. L’autonoma fisionomia del drafting parlamentare. – 2. Le innovazioni tecnologiche applicabili al drafting in Parlamento: uno sguardo comparato. – 3. Digitalizzazione e drafting nel Senato italiano: i limiti di contesto. – 3.1. Le resistenze dell’“ambiente” parlamentare all’uso del digitale nella gestione dei testi legislativi. – 3.2. (segue) e le resistenze procedurali. – 4. Le innovazioni tecnologiche al servizio del drafting legislativo in Senato: un percorso a complessità crescente. – 5. Le sfide future: la digitalizzazione a supporto del drafting in senso proprio, tra cooperazione inter-istituzionale e dimensione parlamentare.

The essay analyses the distinctive challenges posed by the digital process applied to the requirements of legislative drafting in parliament, combining a comparative approach with a focus on the experience of the Italian Senate. The comparative picture demonstrates that parliaments have lately recorded relevant progresses in the digitalisation of their activity, and yet the application of advanced technologies in the field of legislative drafting covers only a limited number of representative assemblies. This trend is explained based on the peculiar features of the parliamentary environment, characterised by the intense politicisation of the decision-making process and by the flexible nature of the legislative procedure. These limits are also met in the experience of the Italian Senate that has yet developed several tools of artificial intelligence applied to the drafting of amendments and legislative bills. The essay focuses on the current application and potential developments of these tools, pointing at the future challenges in the use of advanced technology for the simplification and codification of the Italian legislative stock.