The innovations introduced by the Environmental Attachment to the new 2015 Italian Stability Law.

The Law 28 December 2015, n. 221 “Environmental provisions to promote green economy measures and reducing the disproportionate use of natural resources” introduces a series of important innovations in terms of environmental certifications, green public procurement and product qualification.

Art. 16 establishes a reduction of the guarantees normally required to companies signing and renewing contracts with the Public Administration. The reduction is:

• 30% for companies with a EMAS Registration (Reg. 2009/1221/CE);

• 20% for companies bearing a certification according to the UNI EN ISO 14001 or, alternatively, able to cover at least 50% of the total value of the supply with products that have been awarded the European Ecolabel (Reg. 2010/66/CE);

• up to 15% for those companies that have developed a GHG inventory in accordance with UNI EN ISO 14041-1 or a carbon footprint in line with the requirements of the UNI EN ISO/TS 14067.

This result has been achieved also thanks to the research work and promoting efforts carried out by a number of “laboratories” established with the aim to propose innovations in terms of environmental simplifications, such as the Life BRAVE (Better Regulation Aimed at Valorising EMAS and Ecolabel – www.braveproject.eu) endorsed by the Regions member of the Rete CARTESIO.

Art. 17 introduces a number of facilitations in the evaluating procedures for awarding public funds for environmental projects promoted by companies with a voluntary certification. In more detail, the Environmental Attachment introduces the obligation for Public Administrations to value as element of preference the fact that an organization demanding public funding bears a voluntary certification of the European Commission (the above mentioned EMAS and Ecolabel), or in accordance with ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) as well as ISO 5001 (Energy Management System).

Articles 18 and 19 foresee the obligation for Public Administrations, as well as for the central purchasing bodies responsible for public procurement, to insert the so called Minimum Environmental Criteria (MEC) within the technical documentation of public tenders. The Criteria have been defined by the Italian Ministry of the Environment for different product categories and published as ministerial decrees.

Art. 18 requires Public Administrations to use the technical specifications and requirements defined by the MEC in their public procurement tenders in order to promote the purchase of products and services with a lower environmental impact.

Art. 21 establishes the national voluntary Scheme, called “Made Green in Italy”, for the evaluation and communication of the Environmental Footprint of products. The Scheme is the result of the experimentations carried out by Rete Cartesio at regional level since 2011, especially within the Life PREFER project, and supported by both the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Economic Development with a Memorandum of Understandings.

The Scheme is based on the PEF methodology of the European Commission as defined by the Recommendation CE n. 179/2013.