Simone Penasa

L’opera propone un’analisi comparata della disciplina in materia di procreazione medicalmente assistita in quattro ordinamenti europei – Italia, Francia, Regno Unito, Spagna – al fine di proporre una modellistica dei diversi approcci normativi che il legislatore nazionale può assumere rispetto alla disciplina della attività medico-scientifica. La comparazione si fonda sulla selezione di una serie di indici, che integrano indici tradizionali, fondati sull’analisi del contenuto della legislazione, e indici di natura procedurale, finalizzati a determinare le caratteristiche del procedimento di approvazione e attuazione della legge, partendo dal presupposto che tali caratteristiche procedimentali incidano sui contenuti legislativi, in termini di legittimazione sociale, legittimità costituzionale e adeguatezza scientifica.

Is the entry of AI-based systems into the judicial system destined to change the nature and image of judge and justice that a society and legal system traditionally tend to express? This article seeks to offer elements, of both a legal and technological nature, capable of helping to answer this question by proposing the concept of technological and constitutional sustainability of such systems. This will be done both on a theoretical level and through the analysis of some paradigmatic cases of the use of AI-based systems by legal practitioners (predictive justice, profiling of judges, use of ChatGPT).

The aim of the paper is to analyse and systematise the most recent normative experiences that, within a comparative panorama that is still inevitably fragmented, can be traced back to a "dualistic" conception of technology in relation to law, on the one hand, and to an idea of law and regulation as 'immersive' with regard to technology, on the other hand. Artificial intelligence-based systems in the context of the exercise of public functions has been identified as the most paradigmatic example of this trend. The adaptation of existing regulatory tools can play a decisive function in order to ensure a physiological integration of the digital and technological architecture into the preexisting constitutional matrix, via the enactment of r such as regulatory sandboxes and algorithmic impact assessment tools.

This article provides an analysis of the approach taken by Biden administration to the involvement of scientific consultative bodies within its decision-making processes. Particular relevance is devoted to the political commitment to enforce an evidence-based method of political decision-making, which is concretely defined in a number of institutional and regulatory initiatives, that may contribute to defining Biden administration as a laboratory in this context.

Il contributo vuole offrire una prima ricostruzione del quadro empirico e normativo relativo all’utilizzo di sistemi e dispositivi basati sull’intelligenza artificiale nella governance del fenomeno migratorio. Ci si sofferma, in particolare, sull’utilizzo quale strumento di gestione del controllo delle frontiere e, più in generale, delle fasi di primo contatto tra straniero e autorità nazionali. Obiettivo del contributo è proporre alcuni esempi concreti, dai quali si ricavano una serie di questioni finalizzate a “problematizzare” l’utilizzo di sistemi “smart” alle frontiere, nella prospettiva della tutela effettiva dei diritti delle persone coinvolte.

The article provides a general framework, in a comparative and multilevel perspective, of the current technological and legal state of the art of the use of systems equipped with AI in the sphere of migration policies. Taking the case of “smart borders” as a paradigmatic sphere, the potentials and risks deriving from such an intertwining are analysed, proposing, in the light of the current normative initiatives adopted at a comparative level, some possible regulatory tools, with the general objective of guaranteeing the integration between the efficiency of technological tools implemented and international standards of protection of fundamental rights.

Dopo aver offerto una descrizione dell’evoluzione del quadro giuridico relativo alla
campagna vaccinale contro il virus SARS-CoV-2, il contributo prende spunto dall’estensione della
tutela dell’equo indennizzo anche alle vaccinazioni raccomandate (d.l. 4 del 2002) per sottolinearne
tre livelli di rilevanza, relativi al fondamento costituzionale, all’affidabilità scientifica delle
vaccinazioni raccomandate e alla porosità del confine tra raccomandazione e obbligo. Infine, si
qualifica l’estensione dell’equo indennizzo come misura costituzionalmente necessaria,
sottolineando in particolare il nesso tra affidamento individuale e affidabilità scientifica delle
vaccinazioni.

Il contributo propone una rivisitazione della giurisprudenza della Corte EDU in materia di divieto di espulsioni collettive, a partire dal caso N.D. e N.T. c. Spagna, analizzando in particolare gli effetti sui destini dei migranti dell'intreccio tra la costante di un riconoscimento ampio della giurisdizione statale e del concetto di "espulsione", da un lato, e le variabili relative alle concrete caratteristiche dei movimenti migratori e delle condotte individuali degli stranieri, dall'altro lato.

Il contributo ha ad oggetto le dinamiche tra potere legislativo ed esecutivo
di fronte a questioni scientificamente caratterizzate. Dopo alcune considerazioni generali finalizzate a tracciare una mappa concettuale e normativa utile a comprendere le caratteristiche di una relazione “fisiologica” tra Parlamento e Governo di fronte a questioni scientificamente complesse, si proporrà una sistematizzazione delle diverse declinazioni che tale relazione è venuta concretamente ad assumere, al fine di evidenziarne potenzialità e criticità.
L’ottica non è valutare tanto l’ordine di prevalenza “istituzionale” tra i due poteri, quanto di determinare gli assetti – dal punto di vista delle fonti, delle procedure e dei contenuti normativi – costituzionalmente più sostenibili, alla luce della necessaria garanzia delle rispettive prerogative funzionali e della specificità dell’oggetto di regolazione.

The paper highlights the main pros and cons of the use of AI in the judicial context, taking into account different functions that AI can concretely perform. Technological reliability and constitutional sustainability shall represent key-criteria in order to assessing the impact on both fundamental rights and the judiciary function that the use by judges and other public authorities in the judicial environment can provoke.  Special attention is dedicated to the existing case-law and legislations from a comparative perspective, with the aim to provide a first classification of different regulatory approaches to the field.

Il contributo si propone di contribuire alla discussione dottrinale relativa all'impiego di sistemi di intelligenza artificiale per la gestione dei fenomeni migratori, tenuto conto del fatto che a livello comparato si stanno consolidando esperienze in tal senso. Si individua nel contesto della gestione delle frontiere e delle prime fasi di contatto tra migranti e autorità statali uno degli ambiti più paradigmatici, al fine di individuare potenzialità, in termini di efficienza delle politiche e delle misure adottate e rischi, in termini di effettività delle garanzie, connesse all'intreccio tra immigrazione e intelligenza artificiale. Si sottolinea infine l'esigenza di aprire un confronto all'interno della dottrina specialistica un tale prospettiva.

The article addresses the issue of scientific advice to
Parliament, proposing a definition and highlighting its constitutionally
necessary nature in the light of constitutional and international case
law. Through a comparative analysis, the article proposes a
classification of the different types of scientific advice, in the light of
criteria such as the source of its establishment, its appointment and the
functions of the bodies set up for this purpose.

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the right to know one's genetic origins (RKGO) encounters significant differences in the level of guarantee when it applies to adoption, to assisted reproduction or to surrogacy. The results of this analysis are aimed at understanding the degree of effectiveness of this right in different legal systems. To this end, the main features of the right to know one's genetic origins are carefully considered, the research being based both on legislative and on jurisdictional materials. Namely, the essay focuses on information and consent, on the structure of relevant regulation in the balance between collection and storage of personal information or protection of anonymity and privacy and, finally, on the most crucial factor for the enforcement of this right, namely time.

Abstract: First Chapter of the Global Administrative Law Casebook (3rd ed., 2012). The book is an attempt to analyse global administrative law through the elaboration and examination of a number of different cases and case-studies. The architecture of its contents mirrors the characteristics of this field.

In recent years the link between the organisation of judiciary and the rule of law has become a core-issue at both national and European level. The evolution of the constitutional and legislative system of administration of justice in Hungary is a paradigmatic example of this trend. The latter will be analysed in the light of assessing the evolving role attributed and played by the National Council of Justice. A special focus on the confrontation between the Council and the President of National Judicial Office will be provided, within a system which is classified as hybrid and "bicephalous" which is the expression of a "illiberal democratic" constitutional order.

Il contributo propone un'analisi del Nuovo Patto sull'Immigrazione e l'Asilo della Commissione europea nella prospettiva di verificare se da quest'ultimo sia possibile ricavare qualche elemento teorico o operativo utile a identificare una teoria "europea" della solidarietà in tale contesto. Dopo aver brevemente contestualizzato le possibili dimensioni che il principio di solidarietà può esprimere-tra Stati e verso le persone-e la sua attuale caratterizzazione in senso prevalentemente "intergovernativo", e analizzato le novità previste dal Patto rispetto alle caratteristiche del meccanismo di solidarietà, si conclude affermando la conferma di un approccio "realista" delle istituzioni europee, che sembra ricercare l'assetto che più facilmente potrà incontrare l'adesione degli Stati membri, secondo una dinamica che inevitabilmente rende recessivo il rilievo attribuito alla solidarietà verso le persone migranti.

The article assumes the existence of various form of integration of rules produced by Parliament and declares the physiology of this process, especially when science is involved in the regulation of biolaw. The focus moves then on the characteristics of such integration, with a specific focus on what is defined 'endo"-legislative integration. Accordingly, a systematisation of different legislative techniques which can be implemented in order to open legislative text to the scientific dimension, which is based on the identification of the tools, nature, subject and object of reference to science. The comparative analysis of the relevant constitutional case-law contributes to confirm the existence of a direct link between the legitimacy of the law and the inclusion of science in both law-making and law-enforcement processes.

L’analisi prende avvio dalla teoria orlandiana del rapporto tra diritto e altre scienze, con specifico riguardo alle scienze della vita e alla tecnologia, la quale è caratterizzata da una evoluzione da una concezione autarchica a una evolutiva della concezione di identità disciplinare del diritto costituzionale. Quindi, viene proposto il rilievo costituzionale della scienza in termini di rafforzamento della legittimità dell’esercizio del potere politico e della funzione di attuazione costituzionale. Questa dinamica viene approfondita attraverso lo studio dell’utilizzo dell’intelligenza artificiale e degli algoritmi nell’esercizio delle funzioni pubbliche, al fine di evidenziare l’esigenza di una integrazione fisiologica tra ordine giuridico e ordine tecnico-scientifico. In conclusione, viene richiamata l’idea di co-produzione tra diritto e scienza, che richiede un ripensamento della concezione della legge e dei suoi metodi di produzione.

Il senso della sentenza sulle cause riunite C-715/17, C-718/17 e
C-719/17, Commissione c. Polonia, Ungheria e Repubblica
ceca (EU:C:2019:761) sta tutto nel principio richiamato dalla Corte di giustizia per bilanciare primato del diritto dell’Unione e responsabilità degli Stati membri alla tutela dell’ordine pubblico e sicurezza nazionale: dal riconoscimento compiuto dai Trattati della seconda (art. 72 TFUE) non è possibile ricavare una riserva generale che escluda dall’ambito di applicazione del primo qualsiasi provvedimento adottato per motivi di ordine pubblico o sicurezza, dal momento che ammettere l’esistenza di una riserva del genere, prescindendo dai presupposti specifici stabiliti dal trattato, rischierebbe di compromettere la forza cogente e l’applicazione uniforme del diritto dell’Unione (§ 143).

Ci sono degli ambiti del diritto dell'immigrazione che, a causa della loro natura sostanzialmente procedurale, rischiano di finire in una sorta di "zona d'ombra" della riflessione giuridica. La fase della formalizzazione della domanda di protezione internazionale rappresenta un caso paradigmatico di questa dinamica. Essa esprime infatti un rapporto direttamente proporzionale tra la natura meramente formale dell'atto-la registrazione da parte dell'autorità competente-e gli effetti sostanziali che ne possono derivare sulla condizione esistenziale e giuridica della persona che abbia manifestato la volontà di presentare domanda. Tale fase, infatti, gode di una copertura normativa esaustiva e garantista tanto rispetto alle modalità della manifestazione quanto ai termini entro i quali deve essere completata.

La sentenza della Grande Camera della Corte Europea dei Diritti dell'Uomo in merito al caso Ilias e Ahmed c. Ungheria (Grande Camera, 21 novembre 2019, ricorso n. 47287/15) rappresenta una delle più recenti tappe di un percorso di verifica giurisdizionale delle politiche statali finalizzate al controllo delle proprie frontiere e dei flussi migratori che le interessano. Sempre più spesso infatti la Corte EDU è chiamata a verificare la compatibilità delle normative e delle prassi nazionali con le norme della CEDU, dalle quali la medesima Corte ha ricavato-a partire dal leading case Hirsi Jamaa e Altri c. Italia (GC, 23 febbraio 2012, ricorso n. 27765/09)-un quadro di garanzie finalizzate a bilanciare il legittimo diritto degli Stati di stabilire sovranamente le proprie politiche di immigrazione, da un lato, e il doveroso rispetto degli obblighi internazionali assunti in termini di rispetto dei diritti delle persone che siano sottoposte alla giurisdizione statale.

The paper starts from the assumption of recognising science as potential drving force of the evolution of biolaw. After having clarified the need for a functional connection between scientific and constitutional dimension, the propulsive function of science is analysed with regard to the effective protection of fundamental rights, the impact over the characteristics of the law-making process and constitutional justice.

The paper addresses more specific and concrete issues which are of common concern from a comparative perspective. After analysing the Canadian constitutional model, some more concrete issues directly linked with the form of government will be approached, such as the centrality of the Prime Minister; the supremacy of the Government over the legislature; the role of the judiciary in the light of its relation with other constitutional branches; the nature and function of parliamentary bodies, from the perspective of the due balance between accountability and representativeness; finally, the role of "guarantee" bodies (the Crown, Governor General and the Supreme Court) within a constitutional distribution of powers which is increasingly subject to the influence of the political will of the majority.

The evolution of national legislations on gestational surrogacy and recognition of parenthood are critically analysed in the light of the case-law of national constitutional courts. By assuming a holistic approach to the issue – regulation of surrogacy and subsequent familiar relationship – a rationalization of courts’ approaches will be proposed, based on the distinction between proactive and reactive legal systems.

Sommario: 1. Un'analisi tridimensionale: la disciplina italiana delle DAT tra dinamicità dei modelli e comparazione. 2. Il patologico ritardo del legislatore italiano: un paradossale vantaggio competitivo a livello comparato? 3. I contenuti delle DAT: il riferimento alle "volontà in materia di trattamenti sanitari" quale specificità del modello italiano nel panorama comparato. 3.1. I limiti alle DAT. 3.2. Le forme delle DAT. 4. L'approccio italiano nella dinamica dei modelli comparati: la legge 219 quale traguardo o tappa?

The article aims to deepen the relationship between biolaw and European Union law, in order to understand what role the latter plays in the regulation of issues characterized by a high level of scientific and ethical complexity. Having identified a dual legal basis for the emergence of a European biolaw – the protection of the European common market (Article 114 TFEU) and the promotion of health (Article 168 TFEU) – the progressive emergence of an axiological, and not only procedural, dimension will be highlighted assuming the case-law of the Court of Justice as a common thread.

La sentenza Coman c. Romania della Corte di giustizia dell'Unione europea ha riconosciuto la natura gender neutral della nozione di " coniuge " contenuta nella direttiva 2004/38/CE, sancendo l'obbligo per lo Stato membro ospitante di concedere il diritto di soggiorno per un periodo superiore ai tre mesi al coniuge dello stesso sesso di un cittadino dell'Unione. Il commento segue una struttura a " cerchi concentrici " , prendendo avvio dagli aspetti più tradizionali e coerenti con la giurisprudenza precedente, passando attraverso l'interpretazione del concetto di " coniuge " previsto dalla direttiva e sulla determinazione dell'ambito e delle condizioni della sua applicazione, fino a giungere all'analisi della sentenza in prospettiva " dinamica " , individuando alcuni possibili effetti " di sistema " delle argomentazioni dalla Corte, relativamente alla funzione dell'identità nazionale degli Stati membri e agli effetti della pronuncia oltre l'ambito della libertà di circolazione.

In the case Coman v. Romania, the Court of Justice of the European Union affirmed the gender neutral nature of the concept of " spouse " contained in Directive 2004/38/EC and the duty for a Member State to acknowledge the right to stay for the spouse of a Union's citizen. The commentary provides a " concentric circles " analysis, starting from the interpretation of " spouse " and the determination of its scope of implementation, leading to a dynamic analysis focused on the eventual systematic effects of the judgment, with a special attention to the relationship with the Memeber States' national identity and its impact beyond the limited scope of freedom of circulation.

The article stems from the ongoing legislative debate occurring in Italy
in order to detect and rationalise the essential constitutional prerequisites and indicators which a statutory law providing for mandatory vaccinations should comply with. The main goal is to propose a set of conditions which can reasonably guarantee the constitutional compatibility of mandatory vaccination with the general principles and individuals’ rights involved. The analysis is conducted by implementing the comparative methods: the constitutional case-law of those national legal orders in which forms of mandatory vaccinations are established has been selected and examined, with the aim to provide legislators with a «constitutional map» in this context. The comparative survey clearly shows that elements such as the scientific grounds for legislative choices or the existence of clauses of flexibility (linked with the health condition of individuals) may convert mandatory vaccinations as legitimate, even if non mandatory, tool for the protection of individual and public health.

Il 28 settembre 2017, presso il Campus Luigi Einaudi di Torino, si terrà il Workshop “Right to Enjoy the Benefits of Science and Freedom of Research”, organizzato dal Gruppo di interesse SIDI in Bioetica e Biodiritto Internazionale ed Europeo, dall'Associazione Luca Coscioni e dal Gruppo BioDiritto dell'Università di Trento.

Sommario: 1. Il quadro statistico: evoluzione del fenomeno migratorio e impatto sul sistema di welfare. 2. Il quadro costituzionale dell'accesso all'assistenza sanitaria: diritto (economicamente condizionato) della persona o dovere (finanziariamente circoscritto) del legislatore? 3. Legislazione in materia di assistenza sanitaria degli stranieri: l'Healthcare Act n. CLIV del 1997. 4. Richiedenti asilo e titolari di protezione: tendenziale equiparazione ai cittadini ungheresi ed effettività delle condizioni di accoglienza. 5. Stranieri irregolarmente presenti: accesso alle cure di urgenza e configurabilità di un " contenuto essenziale " del diritto alla salute. 6. Il dovere di assistenza sanitaria economicamente condizionato e legislativamente " ostacolato " : verso una contrazione dell'accesso alle cure per le categorie " deboli " di stranieri.

The article analyses the main characteristics and issues raised by the “ hotspot approach”, implemented within the legal and institutional arrangements introduced at the European and national levels in order to handle migration phenomenon. After having discussed the existing European regulatory framework, criticisms of the Italian approach to “hotspots” are analysed, with a specific view on its compatibility with constitutional principles.

The paper assumes the existing failures in effectively implementing the reception system set for by the legislative decree n. 142/2015. Firstly, it examines the different meanings of the concept of reception;; secondly, it underlines the failures in implementing the ordinary reception system based on SPRAR; eventually, it assesses whether recent normative developments can contribute to the effective implementation of a unitary reception system based on SPRAR intended as the ordinary model of management of this social phenomenon.

The Editorial Board of BioLaw Journal – Rivista di BioDiritto has the pleasure of launching, in occasion of the eight issue of the Journal, a call for papers dedicated to the theme of end of life issues.

The traditional and well-explored topic of end of life issues always offers new motives for reflection in the biolegal and bioethical arena, both at the theoretical and institutional level.
Dying is a process more and more influenced by new technological and scientific developments. Over years, this process was affected by a progressive expansion of the space for individual choice and self-determination concerning the way and time to be cured and the possibility of refusing treatments and interventions.
The call focuses on the latest developments in the field of biolegal and bioethical issues related to end of life, both from a general and theoretical perspective (for example with regard to the thorny constitutional framing of euthanasia and assisted suicide, to the role of the judiciary in front of restrictive legal rules…) and through the description and analyses of more specific matters, among which:
- end of life decisions by incapable people;
- the special situation of vegetative and minimally conscious states and the impact of most recent neuroscientific research developments;
- issues related to permanent and continuous sedation;
- the definitions of futility, disproportionate therapy, overtreatment…;
- financial and economic issues related to resource allocation and to healthcare services’ sustainability;
- the new frontiers of the right to try for terminally ill patients.

The call welcomes contributions not only from all legal disciplines, but also from other sciences, such as ethics and philosophy, medicine, history, sociology, psychology, economics and so on.

Resumen: El presente artículo se propone desarrollar el tema de la regulación de la actividad médica y de investigación científica por parte de los legisladores nacionales, en el marco de un panorama normativo en donde la influencia de las fuentes internacionales resulta ser un elemento relevante que los legisladores deben considerar a la hora de intervenir en este ámbito.
Abstract: This paper deals with the sometimes problematic regulation at national level of medical and scientific issues and defends the necessity for national legislator of taking into consideration the sources of international and comparative law at this regards. Palabras clave: Legislación sobre cuestiones científicas – Derecho comparado-Bioética

The Academy of Law and Migration (Accademia di Diritto e Migrazioni – ADiM), based at the University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy), is launching a call for papers in view of the Conference "The Interaction between State and Non-State Actors in Managing Migration and Asylum", scheduled on October 22nd, 2020 on the Zoom platform. The working languages are Italian and English.
The organizing committee calls on interested candidates to submit an abstract, either in English or in Italian, of maximum 500 words to accademia.immigrazione@gmail.com by July 20th 2020. Abstracts shall be accompanied by a short biography (maximum 500 words), clarifying the author’s name, academic affiliation and/or academic-professional career, specifying whether he/she is already member of ADiM.
The outcomes of the selection will be communicated by July 31th 2020. Selected authors will be asked to send an extended abstract (approximately 5,000 words) by September 30th and the final version of their contributions (revised in the light of the comments collected during the Conference) by December 30th, 2020. The selected contributions
will be published in a law journal, according to the instructions that will be provided in the next steps of the procedure. Please feel free to contact the organizers by email for any further information.

BioLaw Journal - Rivista di BioDiritto (http://www.biodiritto.org/ojs/index.php?journal=biolaw&page=index) is a free online law journal focusing on the relationships between law and life sciences under a comparative perspective. According to its interdisciplinary nature, the Journal hosts contributions in the fields of law, life sciences and bioethics.

The Journal is always open to the submission of articles and commentaries in Italian, English, French and Spanish.

All papers submitted to the Journal are subject to double blind peer review and to the approval of the Steering Committee.

Papers matching the scope of the Journal  papers are sent to at least two independent referees for evaluation. Referees advice on the originality and merit of the papers. The Steering Committee decides on publication.

To submit your paper, please, register on the Journal website (filling the form you could find here), selecting the box “Register as Author”. Click on “New submission” and follow the instructions to submit a word file.

The file has to be made anonymous and comply with the Journal Author Guidelines (http://www.biodiritto.org/ojs/index.php?journal=biolaw&page=about&op=submissions#onlineSubmissions).

The deadline to submit a paper for n. 1/2017 of the Journal (online in February 2017) is 10 January 2017.

Surrogacy is a very popular issue in the present time and it raises ethical and legal questions calling for urgent answers. Technology did not create a new problem. Rather, it highlighted the ethical and legal profiles of a very ancient affair: the carrying of a pregnancy by a woman who delivers the baby for parents unable to conceive by themselves.
Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) created in fact an extremely wide panorama in which some very different forms of surrogacy appear.
Embryos can be created either using the intended father's sperm and intended mother's ova or third parties’ gametes. Otherwise, gametes could come one from inside the commissioning couple and the other from a third donor. Moreover, the implied ovum could be that of the surrogate mother (traditional surrogacy). Reasoning in the context of same-sex unions, this tableau becomes even more complex.
According to the different hypotheses, links among involved subjects change: both commissioning parents could be genetically linked to the child; just one of them could be or none, when third parties are involved in gametes’ donation. The surrogate mother will be linked to the baby in the case of traditional surrogacy only.
The case of intended parents (gay or heterosexual) achieving the effects of surrogacy by any form of adoption is not included among the previous examples. This hypothesis, traditionally regulated, can only be considered relevant for the purpose of this call in relation to the proximity with the case of an embryo created with gametes both coming from external donors.

The Editorial Board, composed of Carlo Casonato, Roberto Bin and Antonio D’Aloia, has the pleasure of launching, in occasion of the second issue of the BioLaw Journal, a call for papers dedicated to the following topic: The Italian law 40/2004 ten years later.

The law 40/2004 was one of the most controversial laws of the legislative history of our Country. It has been approved after a period of partial deregulation in the field of assisted reproduction and it stated a sharp choice which in part contradicts the regulation on abortion. Assisted reproduction is originally framed in a perspective in which the protection of the rights of the embryo and the biological dimension of parenthood are predominant. The use of assisted reproduction techniques is designed as a mere remedy against sterility or infertility; heterologous insemination and surrogacy are prohibited and only heterosexual couples can access these techniques. Finally, the protection of the embryo goes as far to impose a maximum number of embryos to be produced and their contemporary implantation, calling pre-implantation genetic diagnosis into question, even for couples affected by genetically transmissible diseases.

Ten years later, this original setting has changed dramatically. The Constitutional Court cancelled the limits related to the production of embryos and the duty of contemporary implantation and, finally, the ban on heterologous fertilization (the decision 162/2014 has just been published); the Strasbourg Court considered that excluding couples with hereditary diseases and prohibiting pre-implantation genetic diagnosis constitute a violation of articles 8 and 14 of ECHR; the merit courts not only initiated proceedings that led the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutional reasonableness of law 40 (other issues are still sub judice), but has also used all of its interpretive resources, in some cases going far beyond logical and textual limits of interpretation, to erode or disable limitative mechanisms set by the legislator. Even on the issue of gender diversity of couples’ members, required in order to access assisted reproduction techniques, the option of the law 40/2004, consistent with the overall attitude of most Italian doctrine against homosexual marriage and parenthood, is exposed to pressure coming on the one hand from advocates for an urgent normative intervention to give a legal regulation to same-sex couples, and on the other hand from the consolidating interpretation (mostly supported by the ECHR Court) according to which sexual orientation of parents does not affect in any way the cultural and educational process of the child.

The substantial démontage of the law 40/2004 realised by the judiciary, both represents a perfect image of the complicated relationship between law and judges on the ground of fundamental rights, in particular when dealing with biolaw issues, and offers an interesting laboratory to analyze methodological profiles of the legislative decision, such as the relevance of data and of scientific and technological achievements as an element of the reasonableness of the law. It looks useful to rebuild the current face of law 40/2004, to understand whether these corrective interventions provided the legislative system with a new consistency (in both constitutional and internal terms) or whether it is necessary for the legislator to open a process of redefinition of the contents of this discipline (and also if a similar scenario could be in this phase politically possible), to wonder how these modifications impacted on the medical management of assisted reproduction procedures, and to discuss the constitutional boundaries of a fair and reasonable balance between the rights and interests involved in this type of proceedings.

On this basis, this call will welcome contributions that can be framed into a perspective that can be defined as: "the law 40/2004 seen from the outside" where "outside" means either from legal cultures of other Countries, or from the scientific and medical world (as well as from other disciplines, such as sociology, economy…) who, in recent years, had to face and manage the structure and limits of the law.

The contributions may concern the overall judicial process of rewriting and adaptation of the law 40/2004 or individual profiles, including (but not limited to):

- biolaw and procreation among legislator, judges and science;

- right to procreate (its form and limits);

- individual profiles of the access to assisted reproduction;

- heterologous fertilization after the judgment of the Constitutional Court;

- agreements and dissonances between the law 40/2004 and the law 194/1978;

- the legal status of the conceived;

- supernumerary embryos and their fate;

- assisted reproduction in other jurisdictions;

- comparative law profiles.

Submitted papers will be anonymously evaluated by an ad hoc scientific committee and selected for publication on the Journal also on the basis of their touch of originality.

Manuscripts shall not exceed 80.000 characters (spaces included) and could be submitted in Italian, English, Spanish or French (an abstract in English is required). Author guidelines are available at this link.

Download the call.

The deadline for electronic submission to biodiritto@gmail.com is September 5th, 2014.

The idea for the foundation of Rivista di BioDiritto – BioLaw Journal stems from the cooperation, in the field of health and medical law, between three research groups operating at the Universities of Trento, Ferrara and Parma. The editorial initiative consists of a peer reviewed law journal, which will be freely available in a digital edition on the website www.biodiritto.org.

The Editorial Board, composed of Carlo Casonato, Roberto Bin e Antonio D’Aloia, has the pleasure of launching, in occasion of the first issue of the journal, a call for papers dedicated to the following theme.

Beyond Illness: New Understandings of Health and the Law

In recent years medical interventions are more and more often required even in the absence of a pathological status. For example, a right to health care is claimed before the State to tackle predispositions for a disease or with the aim of enhancing physic or cognitive parameters considered inadequate under the individual or social point of view. Besides, public powers are getting more engaged in the setting of primary prevention programs involving life style and behaviours of individuals.

How does the legal system react in front of these phenomena?

How has the border between health and disease changed? To which extent has this shift affected the legal system and fundamental rights?

How does the relationship between the State and the person evolve and how is the balance between constitutionally relevant values and interests realised?

How is the medical role shaped in connection to the increasing demand for interventions on the individual which are not justified by pathological statuses?

Submitted papers will be anonymously evaluated by an ad hoc scientific committee and selected for publication on the Journal.

Manuscripts shall not exceed 80.000 characters and could be submitted in Italian, English, Spanish or French (an abstract in English is required). Author guidelines available in the template below.

The deadline for electronic submission to biodiritto@gmail.com is March 16th, 2014.