General legislation, CIVIL PROTECTION

The first norms about Civil Protection in Italy were created in 1919 by the Royal Decree No. 1915, 2nd September ( which was issued by the king, as a law.

This decree ruled the law about earthquakes attributing the responsibility of directing and coordinating to the Public Works Minister. With the law of 17th April 1925 No. 473, the rescue of people ruined by calamitous events is managed by the Public Works Minister, which acts peripherally through the “Civil Engineering Office” with the help of sanitary structures.

The RDL No. 2389 , 9 December 1926, which became law No. 833 on the 15th march 1928, further defines the rescues organization and confirms the responsibility of the Minister for Public Works about the other State administration interventions organization and coordination as well as Fire Brigade, State railways, Red Cross etc. The rescues concern not only the telluric ones, but also the “other nature” ones.

The rescues central structure inadequacy was evident with the Florence flood during the 1966. The river Arno flood without a monitoring system wasn’t announced with a good advance, so the citizens were caught off guard. During the first days the rescues were given almost exclusively by volunteers (“the angels of mud”) and from troops. Only six days after the disaster, the Government could organize an organized rescue network.

Also during the earthquake in Belice in the 1968 (236 dead) the emergency management was a real failure for the deployed forces coordination lack, so the reconstruction decisions were wrong: the citizens were stimulated to leave the damaged historical centers and were created new and totally different from traditional settlements.

The first general provisions with an articulated civil protection organization were created with the law No. 996, 8thDecember 1970 ( with the title “Norms about the rescue and assistance of people struck by calamities”, which transfers every activity direction and coordination from the Public Works Minister to the Interior Ministry and institutes the Commissioner for the emergencies authority who directs and coordinates directly on the disaster place. First Aid Assistance Centers were created to assist the people from the first emergency until the return to normal. The Civil Protection inter-ministerial committee was born to coordinate the many ministries activities.

For the first time, the Civil Protection volunteer activity was recognized: the Interior Ministry, through the Fire Fighters, coaches, trains and equips people who offers his help voluntarily.

After the earthquakes of 1976 in Friuli Venezia Giulia and in Campania in 1980 (Irpinia earthquake) and in Basilicata, the government nominates as Commissioner Giuseppe Zamberletti for the emergency.

Only after the Vermicino accident on June 1981, where little 6 years old Alfredo Rampi dies, the Republic President SandroPertini decided to create the Minister of Civil Protection. Lately, with the decree law No. 57, 27th February 1982, converted in law No. 187, 29th April 1982 ( was established the new Ministry for the Civil Protection Coordination, (then suppressed by decree 7 September 2001 , n . 343 - converted with Law of 9 November 2001, n . 401 - essentially confirming the role of the department set up in 1992), which utilized for its activity the Civil Protection Department, issued with DPCM on the 22nd June 1982, managed by ElvenoPastorelli, Rome Fire Fighters commander who coordinated the rescue activities for Alfredo Rampi.

The Civil Protection National and Regional System

The Civil Protection National System, which is a coordinated system between the State administrations, the Regions, the Provinces, the Town Halls, the local authorities, the public authorities and every other private institution, was born with the law No. 225, 24th February 1992 ( With the DPR No. 613 (then substituted by DPR No. 19, 8th February 2001), 21st September 1992, the rules for the volunteer organizations in the Civil Protection activities were issued. With the Title V Constitutional reform (Constitutional law 18th October 2001) the Civil Protection was included in the legislative subjects between State and Regions.

The law of 24 February 1992 was reformed with important changes through the Decree-Law n. 59, May 15 2012, (converted into the law n. 100 of July 23, 2012), such as the power to declare the State of Emergency that is subtracted from the Civil Protection Department and again attributed to the Interior Minister and to the Ministers Council Presidency Secretary.

Also the emergency may be declared, in accordance with the Regions, after natural disasters (to be faced with special powers and tools for determined and predefined periods), usually 180 days extensible, just once, of additional 180 days.

The Law No. 225/1992 (the text is updated by Decree-Law August 14, 2013 n. 93, coordinated with the conversion law October 15, 2013 n. 119), “National Civil Protection Service Institution”, defines the Art. 1bis finality : “…. In order to protect the life integrity, the goods, the establishments and the ambient from the natural calamities damages , catastrophes and other calamitous events”. The region responsibilities is defined by the mentioned law, Art. 12, that says: “the Regions…. Participate to the Civil Protection activities organization and realization defined in the Art. 3, guarantying the Civil Protection activities execution, according to its competences given by the State and to the principles of this law…”. The Article 13 defines the Provinces competence: they “…. Participate to the Civil Protection National Service organization and actuation, guaranteeing the assignments execution regarding the survey and the important data records for the Civil Protection, the provinces organization and prevention program and their realization, according with the national and regional programs”. Significant is the Prefect competence fixed in the Art. 14: he …”decides the plan for facing the emergency on the whole province territory and realizes its implementation”. The town hall competences and the major competences are defined in the Art. 15: every town hall can equip itself with a Civil Protection structure and reiterates the major basic role who assumes the emergency services direction on the town hall territory, in addition to the rescue services coordination and assistance. Earlier, the emergency service homogeneous direction to be activated provincially was the Prefect’s turn who, according with the Art. 14, coordinated his activities with the majors involved ones. Anyway, the same function for the towns hall where is carried out an emergency management was not provided. Practically, this had the result that some operative structures (like Fire Fighters, Police, Carabinieri) released the major influence for the decisions to be taken during an emergency, in order to obtain the Province command and the prefecture authorization.

With the law No. 100/2012 ( the major stronger occupies the town hall emergency and rescue system apex, most of all when rapid and coordinated decision are needed, free from the command networks that operate during the normal institutional assignments. The Art. 15 modification establishes that in the emergency the major, in addition to the assignments of “ rescue services coordination” (impulse and general authority activity of initiatives operating towards the hit people), directs unilaterally the services on the territory, that acts permanently since they have the location there and they include every structure and every operative service indifferently.

Therefore, during an emergency the major directs the volunteer associations, the fire fighters, the healthcare and social services etc. The direction location is the town hall center of operation (COC), where is constituted the crisis unity, as decided during the planning and created depending on the necessities. The norm accords with what was already stated for the ordinary period phase from the DLGS n. 112/98 (Bassanini) ( that attributes to the town halls with the art. 108: “… the surveillance on the urgent services realization from the civil protection local structures”.

During the emergency, the major not only “directs” together the operators in force on the town hall territory, but also-and most of all- the ones that the Prefect, in coordination with the major, sends him as support from the provincial command and, during the worst events, the ones that come from other Provinces and Regions, that can be directed only by the most important civil protection authority on the territory where they are operating. This integration to the art. 15 confirms the “civil protection town hall authority” nature of the major, who has the important task of overseeing on the citizens safety during the four activity phases defined on the law No. 225/1992.

The program approval is necessary and under the responsibility of the town hall council, as well as its periodical check and approval, and it has to conform to what is decided by the Tuscany civil protection operative program issued by the Region (DGRT n. 1040 of November 25, 2014 “Regional Civil Protection operational plan approval” Tuscany approved the law No. 67, 29/12/2003 ( with the “civil protection regional system organization and its activity rules” and following realization regulation with DPGR No.69/R, 1/12/2004, which issued in the first part every administrative functions about the town hall civil protection activities, the subjects and the programs editing procedures (

The DLGS No. 504/92 and the 28/05/1993 ministerial decree inserted the civil protection essential services between the town halls and the law No.135, 7/08/2012, includes the civil protection planning activity and first aids coordination between the town halls basic purposes. The Law includes urgent measures for the review of public spending by invariance of services to citizens.

The current “civil protection town hall emergency program “ (that we will just define the “ Program” in this document) defines the town hall organization, the methods and the necessary services for facing the emergencies and all the others activities about the population information and the civil protection knowledge diffusion and the non-structural prevision and prevention activities. The Program, according to the laws evolutions that substitute the Province with the Metropolitan City (which already has a structured system to react to bigger territory needs), is integrated with the necessary technical standards for implementation.

Other Normative References and Administrative Acts

Normative References

  • Presidential Decree n.175 of 17 May 1988 (Implementation of CEE Directive no. 82/501 " on the major accident hazards of certain industrial activities, in accordance with Law 16 April 1987 , n . 183 )
  • Law 183 of 18 May 1989 ( Regulations for the organizational and functional restructuring of soil defense)
  • Law n. 142 of 8 June 1990 ( Order of the local self-government ) - Law 265 of August 3, 1999 (Update of Law n. 142 of 8 June 1990)
  • Framework Law on Volunteering n. 266 of 11 August 1991.
  • Law Decree 292 of 27 May 1996 (
  • DL 393 converted into Law n. 496 of 25 September 1996, Tuscany Regional Law 42 of 10 June 1996, Art. 11 (Discipline of the regional activities of Civil Protection)
  • Law 59 of March 15, 1997 (Delegation to the Government for the assignment of functions and tasks to the regions and local authorities, for the reform of public administration and administrative simplification)
  • Prime Ministerial Decree of 19 November 1997 - Department of Civil Protection (Concessions to volunteer organizations, according to art. 14 of Decree Law n. 560 of 20 December 1995, converted into law n.677, 31 December 1996)
  • Presidential Decree No. 194 of February 8, 2001 (New rules of participation of voluntary organizations)
  • Law 401of 9 November 2001 (Urgent provisions to ensure coordination operating the structure for civil protection activity)
  • Constitutional Law n. 3 of 18/10/2001
  • Prime Ministerial Decree of 12 December 2001 (Organization of the Department of Civil Protection)
  • DPGR 69 / R of 1 December 2004 (Organization of the activities of the regional system of emergency civil protection)
  • Prime Ministerial Decree of 6 May 2005 (Approval of the Arno river basin plan, excerpt hydrogeological)
  • DGR n. 611 of September 4, 2006 (Approval of new rules and operational procedures for - Operational guidelines for the organizational and functional management of the National Alert System, state and regional for the hydrogeological risk and hydraulic purposes of civil protection)
  • DPGR 24 / R of 19 May 2008 (Regulations on voluntary organizations carrying out activities of civil protection,
  • Prime Minister's Decree of 3 December 2008 (Organization and Operation SYSTEM in Situation Room of the Italian Department of Civil Protection).
  • Legislative Decree 49 of 23 February 2010: (Implementation of Directive 2007/60 / EC on the assessment and management of flood risks)
  • Decree 59 of 15/05/2012 Withlaw decree no.59 of 15 May 2012turned from law no. 100 of 12 July 2012 intolaw 225 of 24 February 1992, which established the "National Service of Civil Protection" the declaration of the state of emergency takes place with decision of the Council of Ministers. Previously, the state of emergency was issued with decree of the President of the Council of Ministers. Law decree no. 59/2012 also provides that the Head of the Civil Protection Department has the task of issuing, along with regions involved, ordinances for carrying out interventions during a state of emergency, and dealing with its fulfilment. Previously, according to art 5, par. 3 of law 225, the same ordinances were issued by the President of the Council of Ministers. For this, the section "Ordinances" now includes both ordinances of the President of the Council of Ministers and of theHead of the Civil Protection Department.
  • Law 98 of August 9, 2013 (conversion into law of Decree 69 of 21 June 2013 laying down urgent measures for economic recovery)
  • Law 203 of of 14 November 2013 (Provisions for the search of missing persons)
  • DGRT # 700 of 26 / August 2013 (Approval of Agreement Protocol between the Tuscany Region, the Civil Protection Department, ANCI Toscana and Toscana UNCEM to support the experimentation of the project "Know the Civil Protection Plan to live in security")
  • DGRT n.1143 of 23 December 2013 (Adoption of the Tuscan civil protection plan of operations (art. 1 bis, Law 12/07/2012, n.100))
  • National Rescue Program for seismic risk.