Decentralized State Administrations in Italy and Abroad The complex administrative State machinery for obvious reasons of functional efficiency cannot all be concentrated on the central government. Thus it is divided into local administrative structures that usually coincide with regional or provincial boundaries. The responsibilities of the local organs of State are generally restricted to matters of minor importance and tend to involve an application of law and rules with limited discretionary powers. The decentralized organs are subject to both normative precepts and the powers of the central hierarchy. The latter apply to the direction, arrangement, selection and annulment of the decisions of the local bodies. National and international decentralization will be treated separately, even if embassies, legations and consulates are not technically decentralized bodies but belong to the functional divisions of the Ministero degli Esteri. State Decentralization in Italy The decentralized State apparatus underwent a reduction following the transfer of its functions to the Regions, since the areas of local intervention by the central administration diminished. On the other hand, new problems of co-ordination between the State and local services arose and the decentralized apparatus of the State was still needed for those functions that were not purely local and therefore not transferred to the Regions. The decentralized organs function through administrative acts where monocratic organs are concerned or resolutions derived from collective organs, endowed with executive power (the capacity to intervene authoritatively on the juridical positions of third parties). The law then qualifies them, case for case, as definitive (not subject to hierarchical revision) or non-definitive. We can now see which are the main decentralized State organs, distinguishing them by general and specialized sectors of administration. Within the first are the Commissario del Governo nella Regione, the Prefetto and the Sindaco. The Commissario del Governo (government inspector) resides in the regional capital. He supervises the State's administrative regional functions and co-ordinates them with the regional and local services. The Prefetto (prefect) is the government's provincial representative and has general powers for controlling and co-ordinating local interprovincial State authorities. He is responsible for public order and security and for organizing communal and provincial elections. In cases of necessity and emergency he assumes charge of buildings, local police, public security and civilian protection. He also has an informal function as mediator between public and private interests and in important collective conflicts (eg. labour disputes, economic differences between categories). The Prefetto also has a series of minor administrative responsibilities, though these have been notably reduced by the introduction of Regions and the transfer of new powers to local administrations. Finally, there is the Sindaco (mayor) who, besides being the head of the municipal administration, fulfills a role as local official of government. In this latter function the Sindaco is an official of the civil state and registry office, with powers of police jurisdiction in the absence of ordinary and military police stations and responsibility for public order. In emergencies he can adopt provisions for buildings, public order and disasters. He also fulfills functions relating to military conscription. Alongside these general organs are those with a specialized function, among which can be briefly mentioned the most important from the citizen's point of view: - Questure, the provincial offices of the ministery of the interior. They deal with public security, the issuing of passports and resi dential permits for foreigners in Italy etc. They depend on the Prefetto and are headed by a Questore (functionary at the dirigente superiore level) who operates through Commissariati (inspectorates) or, where these do not exist, mayors, as well as through all the apparatus of the national police. - Intendenze di Finanza, provincial offices of the ministery of finance. They deal with the administration of national property and resources, provincial treasuries and fiscal control and collection. They are headed by an Intendente di Finanza (functionary at the dirigente superiore level) who has, however, only an interchange function among the local financial officials who depend directly on the different direzioni generali of the relevant ministeries. - Provveditorati agli Studi, provincial offices of the ministry of public instruction. They deal with the administration of nursery, primary and secondary schools and are headed by a Provveditore agli Studi (functionary at the dirigente superiore level). Universities, academies and institutes of higher education are instead juridically independent bodies. - Sovrintendenze alle antichità, ai monumenti, alle gallerie etc., provincial offices of the ministery of cultural heritage. Their function is the protection and direction of important national cultural property. - Uffici regionali e provinciali del lavoro e della massima occupazione, local offices of the ministry of employment and social security. The regional and provincial offices are headed respectively by functionaries at the dirigente superiore and primo dirigente levels. Their function is to supervise employment, compile unemployment lists, supply firms with the details of possible employees and check on social security provisions. - Uffici provinciali della Motorizzazione Civile, Compartimenti di traffico aereo, Direzioni Marittime and Capitanerie di Porto have provincial responsibility for the circulation of road, air and sea transport. - Ispettorati di Frontiera, Centri d'Immigrazione and Uffici Doganali control international traffic in and out of Italy. As has already been said, there also exist other offices of decentralized State administration (eg. the defence organization), corporations and firms that, for reasons of space, cannot be treated individually. Italian Representation Abroad The Embassies The official state legations, commonly called embassies, are modern institutions. Those of classical times were never destined to continue; their scope was ephemeral, limited to negotiations or ceremonial contacts following an inconstant pattern. The modern mission is made up of diplomatic and administrative staff, a part of whom may be recruited in the place itself. Functionaries making a direct career in the national administration may also be included in the diplomatic list at the level of councillor or secretary. The diplomatic corps consists of accredited ambassadors, plenipotentiary ministers (papal nuncios and internuncios from the Holy See) and chargés-d'affaires. The difference among these categories is the way in which they are accredited. The first two are accredited by the Head of State of the one nation to the other, while the third is accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the corresponding organ of the receiving country. The minister of Foreing Affairs, in agreement with the Treasury minister, can nominate special diplomatic missions to international conferences or send extraordinary embassies to solemn occasions. Also the heads of Italian permanent representations to international organizations (UN, NATO etc.) carry the rank of ambassador or plenipotentiary minister (UNESCO). The functions of the diplomatic service are not easy to define without going into detail. Article 37 of the Decreto Presidenziale of 1967 states that ``the diplomatic mission undertakes, within the ambit of international law, functions consistent with protecting national interests, safeguarding citizens, handling affairs, negotiating and developing relationships in all areas between Italy and the accrediting State. The activity of the diplomatic mission is carried out, therefore, in the political, consular, migratory, economic, commercial, financial, social, scientific, technological, press and information fields. The legation also co-ordinates and, in specified cases, supervises and directs the activities of Italian offices and firms operating in the territory of the State of accreditation". The head of missions reserves for himself, from the functions listed, direction of the most important affairs, as for example the conclusion of negotiations. Instead, the major part of the formative work is carried out by his subordinates, councillors and secretaries. The diplomatic mission also supervises and co-ordinates the activities of the consular offices. Where the latter do not exist, the diplomatic mission has to protect national interests and safeguard fellow nationals, above all where conditions of life and work and social security are concerned. They also promote, assist, co-ordinate and supervise the activities of the associations, chambers of commerce and corporations of their own country in connection with national economic interests. Finally, they develop cultural relations and fulfill functions connected with their own national civil and notarial procedures, as well as in the administrative and jurisdictional sectors. The Consulates The modern consular institution, understood as the juridical possibility of the State to protect with its own organs its citizens in the territory of a foreign State, originated in the ancient medieval corporations and in European commercial expansion in the Near East. The consul, in fact, owes his juridical authority to international law. Like the diplomatic office, the consulate is regulated by international agreements concerning its creation, function, privileges and extinction. The actions of the consul, like those of the diplomat, are attributed under international law not to the person but to the State. On the basis of both practice and international law, consuls are divided in two main categories: career, first category or delegated consuls and honorary, second category or locally nominated consuls. The career consuls are permanent and exclusive State functionaries. The honorary consuls, instead, are chosen `in loco', from the citizens of the same State or those of the territorial State, for their capacity, acquired merits or outstanding nature; they do not belong to the diplomatic-consular profession and are not State employees, so therefore they may continue with their professional activities. Both career and honorary consuls form four classes: consul general, consul, vice-consul and consular agent. While the first two head independent offices, vice-consuls and consular agents direct offices (viceconsulates and consular agencies) depending on superior offices (general consulates or consulates). A consular office can only be established in a particular State on the common agreement of the foreign and host State. A unilateral decision is not sufficient, particularly as States may refuse permission for consulates to be established in parts of their own territory. Consular functions are very varied and complex. An attempt has been made to summarize them under the headings in which the consul abroad represents, for his co-nationals, what in Italy are the prefect, police superintendent, notary, official of the civil state, captain of the port and director of education. These particular functions are: - Economic: keeping up-to-date on economic local life, possible opportunities for national products, promoting initiatives for the increase of exchanges, assisting economic operators and collaborating with the commercial attaché of the national diplomatic representation. - Assistance to co-nationals: advising and informing them of all useful help in connection with the local authorities. - Administration: issuing and renewing passport, certification of acts and documents and repatriation of indigent co-nationals. - Civil status: registering acts of birth, marriage and death, recognizing natural children, receiving declarations renouncing or acquiring Italian nationality and celebrating marriages. - Notaril: issuing general and special proxies and receiving acts of last wishes. - Jurisdictional: limited to acts of voluntary jurisdiction, as the protection of minors or disabled, conciliation of controversies among co-nationals, or contentious jurisdiction, as decisions in cases of controversy between crew members and the captain of mercantile ships. - Mercantile marine: all aspects of merchant shipping are the object of very varied and complex consular activity of an administrative, jurisdictional, economic, political and policing nature. - Military obligations: corresponding to those residing, internally, in the councils for military conscription. - Educational: supervising Italian schools and national cultural bodies. Among the particularly significant functions of the consul is that of consular protection physically or juridically of persons belonging by nationality to the State providing the protection (and exceptionally also to individuals not belonging to it). This occurs when the local authorities fail to fulfill their obligations under international law, as the State of residence, where the treatment of foreigners in general and citizens of that country in particular are concerned. The consul's formal complaint is made to the local authorities, whether these be government, municipal, administrative or judiciary. The consul's jurisdiction is limited to a defined territory, established by consular convention and applying only to certain persons (ressortissants) who are residents, visitors or travellers through the consular district. The ressortissants are principally the physical and juridical persons with the nationality of the foreign State and those belonging to other States who are linked to the foreign State by particular relations (protectorate, juridical tutelage) that are recognized by the State of residence. So that the consular functions can be accomplished with the necessary liberty and efficiency, the consul is accorded special treatment or consular immunity.