Decision of the Regional Administrative Court for Puglia, II Section, No. 1146 of 13 March 2014

By decision No. 1146/2014, the Regional Administrative Court for Puglia annulled the decision of the competent administrative authority to refuse the renewal of the residence permit for self-employment of a non-EU national legally staying in Italy. Based on previous case-law, the Regional Administrative Court stated that such refusal cannot be decided, merely, through automatically applying Article 26.7 bis of legislative decree No. 286/98 concerning the protection of copyright; the fact that the applicant had been convicted, in the past, for the offence of trade of counterfeit goods did not automatically prevented the renewal of his residence permit. In such cases, the administrative authority is required to make an assessment about the (still existing) social dangerousness of the applicant. This was especially true in the case, because the applicant was a long-term resident, who had lived in Italy, regularly, for long time and was fully integrated in the host community.