Transparency and anti-bribery measures in the Italian public procurement system

In the Italian legislation the existing measures of transparency and bribery prevention have been disciplined separately from the contractor’s choice system.\r\nAfter the approval of the public procurement code, the Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) took on the task of “pivot” between the systems of transparency and anti-corruption within the public procurement, playing a role of independent authority and exercising the regulatory powers which are carried out with the adoption of the so-called “Guidelines” for the code’s implementation.\r\nThe purpose of the contribution is to verify how anti-corruption measures can integrate the contents of the procurement’s lex specialis and constitute a best practice within the public procurement system. On the other hand, it has to verify to what extent anti-corruption measures can be allowed and tolerated with the respect of the principles of the European Union law on procurements.\r\nFirst of all, the essay examines the different forms of transparency and publicity under the public contracts; then it analyzes the anti-corruption measures of a prescriptive and regulatory nature resulting from European law, from the Code of Public Contracts and the regulatory acts of ANAC; finally, the contractual anti-corruption measures (the so-called legality protocols) which may be introduced by procuring entities in the lex specialis of the tender.