Abstract

This case-note comments on a judgment of the Italian Constitutional Court (No. 37/2021) ruling on the constitutionality of a piece of legislation enacted by the Aosta Valley Autonomous Region to cope with the consequences of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The regional statute was deemed unconstitutional on grounds of the State exclusive competence to adopt legislative measures designed to prevent the occurrence of a disease and its dissemination. No consideration whatsoever was given by the Court to other competences such as health protection, which would have granted extensive powers to the Region at stake to regulate (at least partially) its own system to counter the emergency. The ruling appears to reflect a new trend in the Court’s case-law towards a rigid division of competences between the State and the Regions and ultimately towards more centralisation of powers