Sustainable Tourism Law

52 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW In doing so, the Constitution had to divide the respective sphere of jurisdiction. This was done in the article 117 of the Italian Constitution. In the original text, all the power was given to the State, except specific fields left to the Regions. One of these sectors of the law was Tourism (art.117 of the Italian Constitution, old text). In this framework, the D.L. of 14 January 1972 no. 6 transferred the State administrative functions in tourism and hotel industry from the State to the Regions. Thus, the first regional tourism laws are approved, so that all Italian regions, both by ordinary statute and by special statute, can be said to have a Regional Law on Tourism. It is obvious that the proliferation of regional laws – which governed mainly administrative matters – creates the need for a coordinated work that can only be made by the State itself. This situation determined the approval of State Laws, in 1983 and in 2001, called “Framework Law” (Leggi quadro) whose function was to coordinate the various regional laws 31 . Then we had, in the new millennium, a Constitutional Reform. In the Constitutional reform of 2001, the old principle was reversed: all the legislative power was assigned to the Regions, except what was reserved to the State. But Tourism disappeared from the list. Now article 117, as reformed, states: “Legislative powers shall be vested in the State and the Regions in compliance with the Constitution and with the constraints deriving from EU legislation and international obligations. The State has exclusive legislative powers in the following matters (omissis). The Regions have legislative powers in all subject matters that are not expressly covered by State legislation (omissis)”. Today, Tourism is not part of the list of matters in which the State has exclusive legislative powers, neither is it in the list of the Regions´ exclusive power. This situation has created a kind of standstill in various matters, and a large number of Constitutional Court decisions. In the last years, Regions frequently challenged State Laws before the Italian Constitutional Court, State Laws that were assumed to interfere with Regional Jurisdiction and powers. At the same time, the Italian State frequently challenged Regional Laws before the Constitutional Court, Laws that were deemed to be unconstitutional. 31 Legge 17 maggio 1983 n. 217. Legge-quadro per il turismo. (Fist “Legge quadro”). Legge 29 marzo 2001 n. 135. Riforma della legislazione nazionale del turismo (Second “Legge Quadro”).