The Trentino-South Tyrol Autonomous Region Legislative Assembly (Consiglio Regionale della Regione Autonoma Trentino-Alto Adige - Regionalrat der Autonomen Region Trentino-Südtirol) was established in 1948.
Competences (legislative and non-legislative), legal bases and policy areas where the regional parliament is active
Legislative: Trentino-South Tyrol is one of the five Italian regions having special status. Most legislative competences were transferred by the Special Statute of the Region to the Autonomous Provinces of South-Tyrol and Trento. The Legislative Assembly has competences inter alia for the management of regional bodies, the management of local authorities, the establishment of land registers, the firemen and for the organisation of Chambers of Commerce.
As a result of the 2001 constitutional reform (Constitutional Act no 3/2001), which extended the areas in which the Italian regions hold concurrent legislative competence and which gave the regions greater legislative autonomy in other fields, the State holds (exclusive or concurrent) legislative powers only in expressly defined areas. The regions have legislative powers in all other areas (exclusive-residual power). The reform also applies to the 'special regions' (regioni a statuto speciale), inasmuch as it extends their autonomy until the adjustment of the special statutes (which has not yet taken place).
For further information, see the Special Statute of the Region, available
here (DE and IT).
Non-legislative: The Legislative Assembly appoints and controls the Regional Government. For further information, see the Special Statute of the Region (link above).
List of committees/sub-committees or working groups in the regional parliament
The Legislative Assembly includes two Legislative Committees on:
- General Affairs, Regulation of the Local Bodies, Firemen, Social Care, Social Security, Development of the Cooperative System and Supervision of Cooperatives;
- Finance, Duties and Taxes, Assets, Regulation of the Bodies of the Health and Hospital System, Regulation of Public Assistance and Welfare Institutions as well as Charities, Regulations of the Credit Institutions, Land Registry, Regulations of Human Resources, Regulations of the Chambers of Commerce.
For further information, see
here (DE) and
here (IT).
Committees in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity
There is no specific committee in charge of scrutinising subsidiarity.
Staff in charge of subsidiarity scrutiny
There is no official procedure as of yet.
Subsidiarity check
Nature (selective/systematic):N/A
Procedure:The Legislative Assembly does not have a specific committee responsible for checking EU draft legislation with regard to subsidiarity. It can be represented by the Committees on European Affairs of the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and South-Tyrol, or by the common representative office of the Autonomous Provinces of Trento, South-Tyrol and Tyrol in Brussels.
The Conference of Presidents of Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and Provinces of Trento and South-Tyrol has taken part in a number of subsidiarity monitoring initiatives. However, there is no official procedure for subsidiarity checks as of yet.
Cooperation/coordination at the regional level
There is a duty of information on the part of the Regional Government, which transmits EU draft legislation to the Legislative Assembly.
Cooperation/coordination at the central level
The mechanism for forwarding EU legislative proposals is laid down at the central level and has two separate channels for regional executives and assemblies.
Twice a week, the Legislative Assembly receives EU laws, EU draft legislative acts and preparatory acts from the Prime Minister's office via the europ@ database system, through the Conference of Presidents of Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces. This forwarding mechanism was established by an agreement signed on 20 July 2009 between the Central Government and the Conference of Presidents of Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, implementing the provisions of Law No. 11 of 4 February 2005. The europ@ system is part of the Department for Community Policies portal, which can be accessed by institutions in order to make comments and assessments on all EU acts and documents, including those not forwarded via the lists.
As for the relations between national and regional parliaments, there is no regulated procedure for cooperation yet. Nevertheless, a system has recently been introduced by the Senate's 14th Committee for forwarding lists of EU proposals requiring a subsidiarity check via the Conference of the Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces with a detailed schedule of the work of the parliamentary committees involved in the procedure.
The comments made by regional parliaments are sent to the committees in the Italian Parliament that are responsible for the subject-matter concerned by the European draft legislation and for European Affairs. These committees draft an opinion, which may refer to the position adopted by the regions.
Cooperation/coordination at the cross-regional level
Moreover, the Legislative Assembly cooperates with other regional parliaments via the Conference of Presidents of the Legislative Assemblies of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, a body that promotes the institutional role of the assemblies of the regions and autonomous provinces, and acts as a hub for coordination and exchange of experiences regarding the legislative assemblies' areas of interest. The cooperation exists both on a technical level - by participating in the working group on European affairs - and on a political level - through the participation of one Member of Parliament per regional parliament in the coordinating Committee of Chairs of European Affairs Committees. For further information, see here (IT).
Furthermore, the Legislative Assembly has contact with the Austrian Tyrolean Region, with which it shares a representative Office in Brussels, together with the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and South-Tyrol.
Cooperation/coordination at the EU level
The Legislative Assembly has contacts with EU institutions through the common representative Office of the Autonomous Provinces of Trento, South-Tyrol and Tyrol in Brussels. Moreover, the Legislative Assembly participates in CALRE (Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies).