Abstract

The new Public Contracts Code has confirmed the provision of ‘special forms’ of public-private partnership that can be activated for the protection and enhancement of cultural goods, giving the institute a different systematic position and broadening its scope of application. This makes it impossible to define a more precise legal status for the institute. The thesis that is proposed is that the characterising element, which may also justify the particular procedural discipline envisaged, is the ‘collaborative’ nature of the relationship, or rather (using a category from civil law) the cause of common purpose.