The Constitutional Court has recently ruled on the relationship between Article 649 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides for the prohibition of double trial (the so-called “ne bis in idem” principle), and administrative proceedings.
The Court of Verona, considering that “Article 649 of the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibits subjecting a person already acquitted or convicted in another criminal proceeding to a second trial, but does not exclude that the accused may be judged for an act for which he has already been administratively sanctioned”, had asked the Constitutional Court to verify whether, in the latter case, the subjecting to a trial violated the principle of ne bis in idem.
The Constitutional Court upheld the appeal, declaring the constitutional illegitimacy of Article 649 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for it does not provide that “the judge pronounces the acquittal or the non-suit against a defendant for a copyright crime who, in relation to the same fact, has already been subjected to administrative proceedings of a punitive nature, now definitively concluded”.
According to the Constitutional Court, a criminal proceedings cannot be started or continued against a person who has already been administratively sanctioned for the same of infringement copyright law.
Constitutional Court, decision of 16 June 2022, no. 149.