di Antonio Iannuzzi

SOMMARIO: 1. Il rapporto fra politica e tecnica nell’ordinamento italiano fra problemi vecchi e nuovi. – 2. Il ruolo del Comitato tecnico-scientifico. – 3. L’esperienza del Comitato tecnico-scientifico: bilancio e prospettive di riforme.

di Lavinia Del Corona

SOMMARIO: 1. La fiducia nella scienza. – 2. Fiducia nella scienza e pandemia. – 3. Politica e scienza durante la pandemia. – 3.1. L’istituzione del Comitato Tecnico Scientifico. – 3.1.1. L’istituzione di un organismo di consulenza scientifica ad hoc. – 3.1.2. La mancanza di trasparenza e pubblicità. – 3.1.3. La mancata definizione dei criteri di selezione dei membri del CTS. – 3.2. L’incertezza scientifica. – 3.3. Problemi irrisolti tra politica e scienza. – 4. Il comportamento degli esperti. – 4.1. Il contrasto alla disinformazione scientifica. – 5. Considerazioni conclusive.

The paper analyzes a series of factors that during the pandemic affected society’s trust in science. Through the analysis of the political reactions to the Covid-19 emergency, the Author points out that even though the wide use of scientific advice was indicative of an increase trust in science, a certain degree of distrust among politicians persists and characterizes the relationship between politics and science. Secondly, the Author highlights to what extent and in what way the behavior of the members of the scientific community itself has affected trust in science, facilitating manipulations of scientific knowledge.

di Maria Antonella Gliatta

SOMMARIO: 1. La gestione dell’emergenza sanitaria all’interno del modello italiano di regionalismo diseguale. – 2. Dalle c.d. zone rosse al lockdown nazionale: perché a situazioni diverse risposte analoghe? – 3. La seconda fase e l’introduzione del c.d. sistema dei colori: nuovi parametri per vecchie disuguaglianze.

The reconstruction of the analysis of the relationship between State and Regions through the opinions rendered by the he Scientific Technical Committee since March 2020 reveals how the pandemic has worked as a amplifier of regional and territorial inequalities, but has also demonstrated the strong need for unity and equality that it could trace the path of future developments of relations between the State and Regions closer to the constitutional dictate.

di Giuseppe Mobilio

SOMMARIO: 1. Considerazioni introduttive. – 2. Due premesse su libertà di circolazione e CTS. – 3. L’evoluzione nel ruolo del CTS. – 4. I fattori di mutamento. – 4.1. L’andamento dell’epidemia e i cambiamenti nelle strategie di risposta. – 4.2. I cambiamenti nel sistema di governance dell’emergenza. – 4.3. L’incepparsi del sistema: i difetti di cooperazione. – 4.4. La qualificazione fornita da altri soggetti. – 4.5. L’avvicendarsi dei Governi. – 5. Alcuni spunti conclusivi. – 5.1. Sul rapporto tra scienza e politica. – 5.2. (segue) e sul rapporto tra scienza e diritto.

The essay analyzes the contribution of the Comitato tecnico-scientifico (CTS) in the definition of measures to contrast the pandemic crisis, with particular regard to those affecting freedom of movement. The reflection arises from the comparison between the minutes of the discussions within the CTS and the measures adopted by the Government in this field. The underlying thesis is that it is not possible to establish abstractly whether the CTS should be qualified as a purely “technical-scientific” or “political” body. The CTS has seen its composition, functions and activity progressively conditioned by various factors, not always normative. This essay seeks to shed more light on these factors, so as to help understand the influence of this body in decision-making processes, how it has changed over time and, more generally, how the contribution of science, politics and law in response to the pandemic crisis is actually configured.

di Marta Tomasi

SOMMARIO: 1. Il CTS come laboratorio sperimentale della funzione di consulenza scientifica ai decisori pubblici. – 2. Genesi e delineazione della fisionomia di un organo. – 3. Una mappatura trasversale dei pareri relativi a misure sanitarie di prevenzione e contrasto della pandemia. – 3.1. La coerenza interna dei pareri del CTS e la variabilità e necessaria flessibilità dei dati della scienza. – 3.2. L’autorevolezza dei pareri del CTS: competenze e concreta incidenza sulle misure adottate. – 3.3. Il grado di politicità dei pareri del CTS. – 4. Conclusioni. I processi di consulenza tecnico-scientifica fra univocità e dissenso.

In the pandemic context, public decision-makers in many jurisdictions have relied on national institutes or agencies that traditionally provide advice and opinions, others have proceeded to activate competent bodies for the management of emergency situations, and still others have resorted to the creation of an ad hoc technical-scientific committee. This contribution aims to map the opinions drawn up by the Italian Scientific Technical Committee (Comitato Tecnico Scientifico) on health measures to prevent and combat the pandemic. The analysis of the role played by this body, within a legal system that is still lagging behind with respect to the definition of technical-scientific consultation procedures, is useful to verify how the permeability between science and politics has taken shape, according to which mechanisms and with which results. The paper will try to understand whether the experience is connoted too strongly by the emergency nature of the situation or whether something can be saved for future improvements.

di Matteo Giannelli

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione. Il dirompente impatto della pandemia sul diritto di voto – 2. Il ruolo del Comitato tecnico-scientifico riguardo alla fissazione della data delle consultazioni elettorali. – 3. Il ruolo del Comitato tecnico-scientifico nella determinazione delle modalità di svolgimento delle operazioni elettorali. – 4. La sostanziale continuità di soluzioni nelle consultazioni elettorali del 2021. – 5. Indicazioni del Comitato-tecnico scientifico e affluenza al voto. Un’ipotesi ricostruttiva. – 6. Quali indicazioni per il futuro? Il diritto elettorale dell’emergenza e il rinvio delle elezioni politiche.

The containment and management of the SARS-CoV-2 health emergency spared almost none of the individual and collective freedoms or social rights provided for in the Constitution. The right to vote has also been restricted by numerous measures that have generally postponed electoral appointments for several months, giving rise to a series of circumstances that are completely unprecedented for the Italian constitutional system. This contribution will focus on the measures adopted regarding electoral issue, referring to the experience of the Technical Scientific Committee. In conclusion, some hypotheses will be formulated on the relationship between the postponement of elections and electoral abstentionism, and on the case of the postponement of general elections.

di Andrea Giubilei

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa. – 2. Politica e tecnica davanti all’avvento inaspettato della pandemia di Covid-19: il caso della scuola. – 3. La ricerca di un equilibrio nella difficile “convivenza” con il virus. – 3.1. L’accesso ai dati sul contagio negli istituti scolastici. – 3.2. La stratificazione delle fonti e delle valutazioni tecnico-scientifiche: le ordinanze regionali per la gestione del virus nelle scuole. – 3.2.1. Segue. Il fondamento scientifico delle ordinanze regionali sul contenimento del Coronavirus nella giurisprudenza amministrativa. 4. Un (opportuno) “sbilanciamento”: alcune considerazioni conclusive sulla priorità alla scuola in presenza.

The essay analyzes how the Education sector dealt with the limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic in order to guarantee the right to health of students and their families. The analysis shows the strong influence of the technical-scientific assessments on policies adopted for carrying out distance learning activities in schools, in particular those produced by the “Technical Scientific Committee” set up ad hoc to support the Government’s activities. The sacrifice imposed on the right to education has raised relevant collateral problems: first, the inability to access to data on infections in schools to ensure greater transparency and effectiveness on public decisions; secondly, the overlap between national and regional measures that are often conflicting with each other. The essay concludes with a reflection on the priority of carrying out in-person school activities, in line with the positions taken by the Government in the current 2021-2022 school year.

di Simone Barbareschi

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione. Il numero esiguo di pareri del CTS in tema di amministrazione della giustizia e processo telematico. – 2. Le quattro fasi della giustizia durante l’epidemia da Covid-19 e il potere dei capi degli Uffici giudiziari. La sentenza n. 140/2021 della Corte costituzionale. – 3. Riflessioni sulla lesione dei principi di pubblicità e oralità. – 4. Quale giustizia dopo la pandemia? Considerazioni conclusive.

This essay focuses on the impact of the Technical-Scientific Committee (CTS) decisions on Italian justice during the Covid-19 pandemic and analyzes the main opinions expressed on this sector. In particular, the chosen point of view concerns the role played by CTS and its compliance with the rule of law. Furthermore, the essay develops the theme concerning the decisions taken by some procedural actors in balancing the right to defence and the right to collective health.

di Camilla Storace

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa. – 2. I principali strumenti di contrasto al Covid-19 negli istituti penitenziari. – 3. Comitato tecnico-scientifico ed esecuzione penale. – 4. Brevi considerazioni conclusive.

This paper will focus on the contribution of the Scientific and Technical Committee in the management of the health emergency in detention centres. In these places of deprivation of liberty, since the first days of March 2020, the risk of the spread of the virus and, consequently, the risk of possible violations of the fundamental rights of prisoners has been felt more acutely. The pandemic emergency in prisons has been triggered by an already extremely critical situation - apart from Covid-19 - due to the dramatic situation of overcrowding, the totally inadequate hygienic and sanitary conditions of the rooms used for overnight stays and, more generally, the existence of obstacles that still prevent the full protection of the right to health.

di Jacopo Ferracuti

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione: l’emergenza Covid-19 e il Comitato tecnico-scientifico. – 2. Limiti e garanzie dell’iniziativa economica privata. – 3. Le limitazioni alla libertà di iniziativa economica privata del periodo emergenziale. – 4. I verbali del Comitato tecnico-scientifico e il fondamento motivazionale delle limitazioni. – 5. Il parere n. 850 del 13 maggio 2021 del Consiglio di Stato. – 6. Considerazioni conclusive.

The essay focuses on the issue of the limitations introduced to the freedom of private economic initiative during the Covid-19 emergency. In particular, starting from a short reconstruction of the role played by the Technical-Scientific Committee together with the analysis of the limits and guarantees of freedom in speech descending from art. 41 of the Constitution, the paper, also trough the aid of some concrete examples, intends to highlight the important role played by the minutes of the aforementioned Committee in the context of the broader discussion connected to the constitutionality of the limiting measures introduced by the Government. In fact, in relation to the matter concerning the respect of the implicit law reserve derived from the Constitutional Court from the c. 2 of the aforementioned constitutional provision, the intent is to highlight how the Government’s compliance with a “reinforced” motivational burden may be assessed mainly by analyzing the minutes of the technical consultancy body.

di Silvia Talini

SOMMARIO: 1. Cultura, sport e Comitato tecnico-scientifico: i confini dell’indagine – 2. Il diritto alla cultura e allo sport nel sistema costituzionale – 3. Il contesto pandemico e la duplice dimensione dell’accesso allo sport e alla cultura – 4. Funzione, tipologie e perimetro di intervento dei pareri espressi dal Comitato tecnico-scientifico nei settori della cultura e dello sport – 5. Pareri degli esperti e provvedimenti adottati in sede locale – 6. Discrezionalità legislativa, scelte normative e conoscenze tecnico-scientifiche: la persistenza di una duplice “fumosità”.

The article focuses on the issue of limitations introduced to the rights to sport and culture during the Covid-19 emergency and the role played by the Scientific Technical Committee. In particular, starting from an analysis of these rights in the Italian Constitution, the attention focuses on three aspects. The first concerns an analysis of the types of opinions issued by the Technical Scientific Committee on sport and culture, the second focuses on the relationship between the opinions of technicians and the decisions taken at local level, and the third focuses, more generally, on the problems existing in the relationship between legislative discretion, regulatory choices and technical-scientific knowledge.

di Giovanni Blando

SOMMARIO: 1. Il ‘matrimonio forzato’ tra diritto e scienza. – 2. La libertà di culto come diritto relativo o limitabile. – 3. Lockdown della libertà di culto e ripresa in sicurezza dei riti. – 3.1 La fase del lockdown. – 3.2 L’inizio della fase 2 e la lenta ri-espansione della libertà di culto. – 4. Le ragioni offerte dal CTS e dalle confessioni religiose al legislatore emergenziale. – 5. Conclusioni.

Despite the absence of an express limiting clause, the right to worship was severely restricted during the most critical phases of the pandemic. The paper focuses on the contribution of the Technical and Scientific Committee in this period.

di Giada Ragone

SOMMARIO: 1. La libertà di riunione al tempo del distanziamento sociale: un ossimoro in termini? – 2. I limiti generali della libertà di riunione. “Pacificamente” come sinonimo di non dannoso per la salute. – 2.1 Altre possibili giustificazioni alle limitazioni generali del diritto di riunirsi: il primum vivere e la forza del fatto – 2.2 La riserva costituzionale di provvedimento concreto per il divieto di riunione in luogo pubblico e la direttiva Lamorgese – 3. Temporaneità e proporzionalità delle restrizioni ai diritti come condiciones sine quibus non. – 3.1 Il ruolo del CTS, valutatore – quanto ai profili tecnico-scientifici – dell’adeguatezza e proporzionalità delle misure di contenimento.. – 4. I pareri del CTS sulla libertà di riunione. – 5. Riflessioni conclusive.

Among the measures adopted to tackle the spread of Sars-Cov-2 in Italy, many have been oriented towards the promotion of social distancing, long considered the most effective strategy to slow down a highly contagious virus. These measures, often contained in Prime Ministerial Decrees, have severely affected the freedom of assembly guaranteed under Article 17 of the Constitution, in all its forms: the freedom of assembly in private, public, and public places has been restricted. In the same way, many other constitutional freedoms, and prerogatives, to which freedom of assembly is instrumental, have been curbed: the right to profess and exercise one's faith in an associated manner, the right to express one's thoughts collectively, and so on.

This contribution will first recall the limits traditionally considered admissible to freedom of assembly. It will then attempt to analyse whether and to what extent the limitations placed on citizens’ freedom of assembly during the epidemiological emergency can be justified and grounded in the clauses and principles contained in the Constitution. It will also be considered that, according to part of the doctrine, the pandemic represents a “constitutionally relevant fact” which opens the possibility of new balances and new forms of limitation to the rights enshrined in the Charter.

Whether one adheres to the approach according to which the Italian Constitution is provided with all the necessary instruments to cope with the emergency, or one holds that the peculiarities of the pandemic crisis are such as to impede reasoning with the parameters of the ordinary regime, the restriction of constitutional prerogatives of the caliber of the freedom of assembly - as indicated by a consolidated constitutional jurisprudence - must respect the principles of temporariness and proportionality. With reference to this second criterion, the essay aims to highlight the role of the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Civil Protection which, pursuant to art. 2 of Law Decree no. 19/2020, is heard on the technical-scientific profiles of the containment measures adopted by the Government and for the assessment of the adequacy and proportionality of the same. The opinions offered by the CTS in relation to the need to limit meetings, with reference to large meetings, will therefore be considered. This will provide an opportunity to make some concluding remarks on the relationship between policymakers and experts

di Gianpaolo Fontana

SOMMARIO: 1. La pandemia e la necessità di riconsiderare i rapporti tra scienza e diritto in una visione non scientista. – 2. Il ruolo ambivalente e problematico della tecno-scienza nei regimi democratici (verso il costituzionalismo tecnologico?). – 3. La riserva di scienza: una nozione da riconsiderare criticamente. – 4. Quando gli scienziati diventano protagonisti. Alcune considerazioni critiche sul rapporto tra diritto, scienza e società alla luce della pandemia. – 5. Considerazioni conclusive.

di Giovanna Pistorio

SOMMARIO: 1. Premessa. – 2. Il ruolo del Comitato tecnico-scientifico tra influenze politiche e incertezze scientifiche. – 3. Le misure governative tra convergenze e divergenze. – 4. Auspici per un modello costituzionalmente orientato.