Data

Date:
21-03-2011
Country:
Italy
Number:
1018
Court:
Corte dei Conti - Sezione Giurisdizionale per la Regione Siciliana
Parties:
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Keywords

DISPUTE BETWEEN AN ITALIAN INDIVIDUAL AND AN ITALIAN PUBLIC AUTHORITY - USE OF UNIDROIT PRINCIPLES AS A MEANS OF INTERPRETING APPLICABLE DOMESTIC LAW (ITALIAN LAW)

LEGITIMATE EXPECTATIONS GENERATED BY THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY - PROHIBITION OF INCONSISTENT BEHAVIOUR - REFERENCE TO ARTICLE 1.8 UNIDROIT PRINCIPLES

Abstract

Claimant, a former employee of the Italian Ministry of Justice, brought an action against Defendant, the Italian national social insurance institute for civil service employees (INPDAP), contesting the latter's request to return part of the pension erroneously paid by the Institute following the erroneous classification of the Claimant among the military personnel of the Ministry of Justice and not among the civilian one.

The Court decided in favour of Claimant. Defendant had regularly paid the pension to Claimant for over 13 years before detecting the classification error, thus generating a legitimate expectation in him. Therefore, according to the Court, Defendant was no longer entitled to recover the amount of the pension paid in excess and the modification of the pension treatment could only become effective ex nunc without retroactive effect.

In support of its decision the Court expressly referred to Article 1.8 of the UNIDROIT Principles according to which “[a] party cannot act inconsistently with an understanding it has caused the other party to have and upon which that other party reasonably has acted in reliance to its detriment.”

NOTE: This judgment is the first of a series of decisions of the same Court (Corte dei Conti - Sezione Giurisdizionale per la Regione Siciliana), in which the reference to Art. 1.8 of the UNIDROIT Principles has been used to specify a general principle which is deemed to be already present in the Italian legal system, but is considered to be rather vague and unclear.

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