Il riconoscimento dei provvedimenti e degli altri atti amministrativi nel diritto internazionale privato e nel diritto comunitario

From the beginning of administrative studies, scholars have discussed the notion of «administrative act» and the possible classification of the measures carried out by a public body or entity. In this debate, Italian authors introduced the notion of «provvedimento amministrativo», as an expression of the public entities’ discretionary powers, as opposed to other instrumental acts. No proof of the existence of a rule of international law binding the States to recognize foreign administrative acts can be detected in international practice, either as a general rule, founded on jurisdictional immunity, or as a specific provision, regarding only confiscations and similar measures or competition law. As a consequence, the recognition of administrative acts has to be considered in a private international law perspective. In modern private international law, two different kinds of recognition of administrative acts are possible: an «indirect recognition», where the administrative act may be relevant as a part of the rules to be applied to the specific case by the judge; a «direct recognition» when the forum attributes a specific value to a foreign act. The question of recognition has other implications in European law. Though some references are contained in private international law regulations, recognition of foreign administrative acts is a consequence of the application of the «mutual recognition» principle, elaborated by the EC Court with reference to the free circulation of goods and extended, in a different way, to services and persons. Contrarily to the theoretical reconstruction of a minority of the doctrine, the principle does not operate like a conflict rule, but like an exception to the application of the law applicable to the substantive content of a specific case.