JUDGMENT NO. 170
YEAR 2026
ITALIAN REPUBLIC
IN THE NAME OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
composed of:
President: Giovanni AMOROSO;
Judges: Francesco VIGANÒ, Luca ANTONINI, Stefano PETITTI, Angelo BUSCEMA, Emanuela NAVARRETTA, Maria Rosaria SAN GIORGIO, Filippo PATRONI GRIFFI, Marco D’ALBERTI, Giovanni PITRUZZELLA, Antonella SCIARRONE ALIBRANDI, Massimo LUCIANI, Maria Alessandra SANDULLI, Roberto Nicola CASSINELLI, Francesco Saverio MARINI,
has delivered the following
JUDGMENT
in proceedings concerning the constitutionality of Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter ttt), of Campania Region Law No. 20 of October 16, 2025, entitled «Amendments to Regional Law No. 7 of April 21, 2020 (Consolidated text on commerce pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 1, of Regional Law No. 11 of October 14, 2015) and further transitional provisions», brought by the President of the Council of Ministers by means of an appeal notified on December 15, 2025, filed with the registry on the same date, registered under no. 47 of the appeals register of 2025, and published in the Official Journal of the Republic No. 2, 1st special series, for the year 2026.
Having regard to the appearance in court of the Region of Campania;
having heard Judge Rapporteur Angelo Buscema at the public hearing of September 23, 2026;
having heard State Counsel Giorgio Santini for the President of the Council of Ministers, and Attorney Almerina Bove for the Region of Campania;
having deliberated in the chambers on September 23, 2026.
The Law in Fact
1.– By an appeal notified and filed on December 15, 2025, registered under no. 47 of the appeals register of 2025, the President of the Council of Ministers, represented and defended by the State Attorney General's Office, brought, inter alia, a question of constitutional legitimacy concerning Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter ttt), of Campania Region Law No. 20 of October 16, 2025, entitled «Amendments to Regional Law No. 7 of April 21, 2020 (Consolidated text on commerce pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 1, of Regional Law No. 11 of October 14, 2015) and further transitional provisions», with reference to Articles 3 and 97 of the Constitution.
The challenged provision amends Campania Regional Law No. 7 of 2020 by adding Article 158-bis, which provides that «1. In order to ensure the effective implementation of the measures provided for by this law and to guarantee adequate levels of administrative, technical, and operational efficiency, the validity of the regional ranking list relating to the public competition, by qualifications and examinations, for the recruitment of ninety-eight positions in the former category C, professional profile of information systems and technology instructor, definitively confirmed by decree of the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Human Resources No. 96 of September 27, 2022, is extended until December 31, 2025».
According to the President of the Council of Ministers, this provision extends, until December 31, 2025, the validity of a competition ranking list that had already expired by the date of entry into force of the regional law. Therefore, it establishes «not an extension of a ranking list that is still effective – a scenario recognized by the legal system – but a genuine retroactive reinstatement of terms, entirely extraneous to the state regulatory framework and its established interpretation».
The State Attorney General's Office argues that national regulations concerning the validity of ranking lists, set forth in Art. 35, paragraph 5-ter, of Legislative Decree No. 165 of March 30, 2001 (General rules on the organization of labor employed by public administrations), provide for a precise and non-derogable time limit within which the administration may draw upon the ranking list; once this limit is exceeded, the ranking list itself loses efficacy and can no longer be used for personnel recruitment purposes.
The challenged provision revitalizes a ranking list whose effects have now been exhausted and introduces an *extra ordinem* regulation that directly affects the constitutional principles of equality, sound administration, and impartiality of the public administration pursuant to Arts. 3 and 97 of the Constitution, «by permitting access to public employment outside the conditions provided for by state legislation and altering the legitimate expectations of those participating in selection procedures in compliance with current rules».
Such a reinstatement of terms lacks regulatory basis and conflicts with the necessary uniformity of recruitment criteria, and, by causing an unreasonable disparity in treatment, compromises the regularity of administrative action, in violation of the aforementioned constitutional parameters.
2.– The Region of Campania appeared in court, arguing that the question is inadmissible as irrelevant.
The regional defense points out that, as emerges from the investigative report of the Directorate-General for Human Resources of the regional administration of Campania No. 16514 of December 19, 2025, «the regional legislative provision challenged by the State has had no substantial effect on the administrative management of the ranking list in question, given that the related appointments within the G.R.C. [Giunta of the Region of Campania] in implementation of the PIAO [Integrated Activity and Organization Plan] had already been completed within the prior expiration deadline [of the aforementioned ranking list] of September 26, 2025».
3.– Prior to the public hearing, this Court, pursuant to Art. 10, paragraph 3, of the Supplementary Norms for Proceedings before the Constitutional Court, requested the Region of Campania to provide the following information: a) the total number of eligible candidates included in the final ranking list relating to the competition referred to in the challenged provision; b) the number of eligible candidates who, prior to September 26, 2025, expressly waived appointment or are to be considered as having waived it as a result of conclusive conduct or other causes provided for by applicable rules, indicating the relevant grounds; c) the number of eligible candidates who, as of September 26, 2025, had not been appointed and had not manifested, either expressly or implicitly, the intention to waive the appointment. Furthermore, clarification was requested as to whether the extension of the validity of the ranking list provided for by the challenged provision produced administrative effects and, specifically, whether subsequent to September 26, 2025, appointments were made by scrolling down the same ranking list on any grounds or in implementation of any administrative act.
4.– The Region of Campania, by a note from the Regional Executive – Directorate-General for Human Resources, filed on August 7, 2026, in providing the information requested by this Court, stated that no appointments occurred after the expiration of the ranking list (September 26, 2025) and that, therefore, the challenged regional provision was not implemented.
In particular, the Region clarified that, notwithstanding the extension of the ranking list ordered by the challenged regional norm, no further appointments were made by scrolling down the ranking list itself after September 26, 2025.
5.– By a brief dated September 2, 2026, the President of the Council of Ministers, in view of what was represented in the brief of the Region of Campania regarding the non-application of the challenged provision, reserved the right to evaluate its interest in the present question of constitutional legitimacy.
6.– During the public hearing, with regard to this ground of appeal, the State Attorney General's Office expressed its interest in the continuation of the constitutional proceedings.
The Law in Substance
7.– By the appeal indicated in the heading (app. reg. no. 47 of 2025), the President of the Council of Ministers brought, inter alia, a question of constitutional legitimacy concerning Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter ttt), of Campania Regional Law No. 20 of 2025, with reference to Arts. 3 and 97 of the Constitution.
According to the President of the Council of Ministers, this provision, by extending the validity of a competition ranking list that had already expired by the date of entry into force of the regional law, restores efficacy to a ranking list that is no longer in force and introduces a regulation that violates the constitutional principles of equality, sound administration, and impartiality of the public administration pursuant to Arts. 3 and 97 of the Constitution. This is because it would permit access to public employment through methods conflicting with state legislation governing the matter and, in particular, with the recruitment criteria established by Art. 35, paragraph 5-ter, of Legislative Decree No. 165 of 2001, causing an unreasonable disparity in treatment and compromising the regularity of administrative action, as well as betraying the legitimate expectations of those participating in analogous selection procedures.
8.– Reserving for separate judgments any decision on the remaining questions of constitutional legitimacy, the one under examination in these proceedings is inadmissible.
In the present case, in light of the documentation produced in court by the respondent and not contested by the appellant, it clearly emerges that no appointments relating to the public competition for the recruitment of ninety-eight staff units, professional profile of information systems and technology instructor, occurred under the validity of the challenged regional provision.
Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter ttt), of Campania Regional Law No. 20 of 2025, therefore, has never been implemented nor can it ever be implemented in the future, given that the expiration deadline of the ranking list subject to the appeal definitively lapsed on December 31, 2025.
As this Court has stated on multiple occasions in action proceedings, there must be a current and concrete interest in bringing the appeal, in order to achieve, through the requested ruling, a direct and immediate utility (to this effect, Judgments No. 145 of 2026, No. 107 of 2021, No. 56 of 2020, and No. 141 of 2016).
In the case forming the subject of the challenged provision, a concrete and current interest in a ruling by this Court no longer subsists, as the characteristics of concreteness and currency of the alleged infringement of the invoked constitutional principles are lacking. Indeed, as constitutional case law has affirmed, «constitutional review must find space [only] where the norm, even if [...] of limited temporal efficacy, has produced effects» (Judgments No. 189 of 2022 and No. 260 of 2017; similarly, Order No. 1 of 2017).
In light of the foregoing considerations, the question of constitutional legitimacy concerning Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter ttt), of Campania Regional Law No. 20 of 2025, brought with reference to Arts. 3 and 97 of the Constitution, must therefore be declared inadmissible.
on these grounds
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
reserving for separate judgments the decision on the other questions of constitutional legitimacy brought by the appeal indicated in the heading;
declares the inadmissibility of the question of constitutional legitimacy concerning Art. 1, paragraph 1, letter ttt), of Campania Region Law No. 20 of October 16, 2025, entitled «Amendments to Regional Law No. 7 of April 21, 2020 (Consolidated text on commerce pursuant to Article 3, paragraph 1, of Regional Law No. 11 of October 14, 2015) and further transitional provisions», brought, with reference to Articles 3 and 97 of the Constitution, by the President of the Council of Ministers, by means of the appeal indicated in the heading.
So decided in Rome, at the seat of the Constitutional Court, Palazzo della Consulta, on September 23, 2026.
Signed:
Giovanni AMOROSO, President
Angelo BUSCEMA, Author
Roberto MILANA, Registrar
Filed with the Registry on October 13, 2026