Stefania Puddu

Article 1, Paragraph 1 bis, of the Law of 11 February 2005, no. 15, containing «modifications and integrations to the Law of 7 August 1990, no. 241», introduces the principle that the Public Administration acts subject to private law when it adopts measures which are not authoritative by nature. According to some authors, the provision under examination reverses the traditional perspective that «public law is the normal law of the Public Administration» and reveals a definite intention to attribute a residual nature to authoritative activity. In this new context, it becomes necessary to ask whether authority is an essential element of administrative power in as much as such power is designed to serve the interests of the community or is destined «to dissolve» in the presence of a (possible) agreement among the affected citizens. With respect to the relationship between the administration and citizens, it is also necessary to verify whether there is any effective extension of guarantees for the citizens that is commensurate with the extension of private law to administrative activity.