Abstract

The aim of this article is twofold. First, it aims at shading light on what we call the «Italian double primacy» in the regulation of the risk related to base station transmitters for mobile phones. Such a primacy consists of: 1) A national risk regulation enforced earlier than in the other countries of the EU; 2) The setting of the lowest national levels of exposure in Europe. Second, it aims at explaining the grounds of such an exception, through the analyses of the genesis of the Italian regulation on electromagnetic pollution. The conclusions focus on risk politicisation and on the importance of the political and institutional structures in which risk regulation is constructed.