Pavesio Studio Legale, with the Equity Partner Helga Garuzzo and the Managing Associate Umberto Michielin, obtained, in the interest of a contracting authority, a significant favorable ruling from the Regional Administrative Court of Tuscany (TAR Toscana) on public contracts and causes of exclusion for tax violations that have not been definitively ascertained.
In particular, with judgment No. 1527 of 13 July 2026, the TAR Toscana clarified that Article 95, paragraph 2 of the Public Contracts Code does not require the contracting authority to carry out an independent assessment of the concrete reliability, professional integrity or economic-financial capacity of the economic operator affected by a tax violation still sub iudice. The administration’s verification must instead be limited to ascertaining the existence of the requirements set out by law, i.e. the seriousness of the violation and the absence of the specific exempting circumstances provided for by the Code and by Annex II.10, without further discretionary assessments.
This ruling is particularly significant because it departs from the orientation which,by enhancing the expression “if it deems” [“qualora ritenga”] contained in Article 95, paragraph 2 of the Code, places the burden on the contracting authority to assess the substantial reliability of the economic operator.
The TAR Toscana instead stated that administrative (or, more precisely, technical) discretion is limited to the verification of the prerequisites typified by law, excluding any relevance of further elements such as the company’s financial solidity of the company, good faith, or the dispute on the merits of the tax assessment may be relevant.
