Order of the Court of Cassation, I Civil Section, No. 1782 of 10 November 2014

Through this order, the Supreme Court of Cassation raised a question concerning the constitutional legitimacy of Article 186 bis of legislative decree No. 58/1998 on administrative sanctions for insider trading, in respect of Article 117.1 of the Constitution, under which Italian law must conform to Italy’s international obligations. The provisions in Article 186 bis have seemed to the Supreme Court in contradiction with the ‘ne bis in idem’ principle resulting from Article 4 of the Protocol No. 7 to the ECHR and as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights in its judgment of 2014 on the case Grande Stevens v. Italy.