Rivista del Diritto Commerciale e del diritto generale delle Obbligazioni

Abstract: The difficult issue concerning the compliance with the obligation of payment in commercial transactions by the (Italian) Public Administration’s towards its suppliers comes under the scrutiny of the Court of Justice. More specifically, the Court examines whether the Italian state respected and complied with the European rule of payment of suppliers within either 30 or 60 days. After declaring the non-compliance of the Italian Public Administration, the Court of Justice goes further and qualifies the nature of PA’s obligation to respect the time limits for the payment as an obligation as to the result to be achieved and not as an obligation as to the means. The motivation of this last statement, however, does not appear fully convincing.  

Sommario: 1. Il caso davanti la Corte di Giustizia – 1.1. Il giudizio della Corte – 2. La disciplina di recepimento: il D. Lgs. 9 ottobre 2002, n. 231 – 3. L’ambito oggettivo di applicazione della disciplina speciale: profili problematici – 3.1. segue: la qualità di parte – 4. I ritardi di pagamento da parte della Pubblica Amministrazione – 5. La determinazione del tempo dell’adempimento solutorio – 6. Sulla natura dell’obbligo della PA di far osservare i termini di pagamento.

Keywords: Commercial transactions — Obligation of payment — Italian Public Administration — Time limits — Obligation of the result.