Major events and emergencies abroad

With law no. 401 dated 2001 the competence of the State as regards Civil Protection were assigned to the Prime Minister and determined by Law 225/92 and by Legislative Decree 112/98. The newly created Civil Protection Agency was abolished and the Department of Civil Protection was restored, within the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The Head of Department performs a function of operative coordination of all the public and private bodies. Apart from this, the Department promoted – in agreement with the Regions and the local authorities – the performance of drills, information to the people about national scenarios and training as regards civil protection. As a counterweight to the re-found centrality of the role of the Prime Minister, a joint State – Regions – Local Authorities Committee was established within the Presidency of the Council of Ministers

One of the important innovations of law 401/2001 was the introduction, within civil protection, of the so-called “great events”. The declaration of “great event”, as for the state of emergency means the use of the ordering power.
A final important change from a legal viewpoint was represented by law 152/2005, which extended the power of ordering also to events abroad, after the declaration of the state of emergency Law n. 27 of March 24, 2012 provides that the management of major events will no longer be under the responsibility of civil protection.

Photo: Sri Lanka, aid unloading from an Italian Canadair after the tsunami of 26 December 2004 in South East Asia / Luciano Del Castillo