Strumenti giuridici di natura consensuale per la tutela e valorizzazione dell’area protetta: il caso dei contratti territoriali.

The paper analyses the draft law of Italian Law no. 394 of 1991, which regulates the protected areas. The aim is to consider the involvement of agricultural undertaking in the safeguard and enhancement of protected areas (parks). The focus is about contratti territoriali, previously introduced in the Italian law system by art. no. 15, legislative decree no. 228 of 2001. According to the draft law of protected areas, the contratti territoriali would be used as a consensual legal instrument for the protection and enhancement of environment in protected areas. The contratti territoriali define a relationship between the Public Administration and the agricultural undertaking: the former grants advantages and incentives – unnecessarily monetary payment – while the latter guarantees the protection and maintenance of agricultural and forestry landscape. The research, on one side, means to underline the legal issues which derive from the safeguard and enhancement activities in protected areas; on the other side, shows the uncertainness about the legal form of the contratti territoriali. Art. 15, legislative decree no. 228 of 2001 and the draft law about the protected areas do not specify neither the legal status of the contratti territoriali nor the application modalities nor the eventual competitive procedure in order to grant the service. The paper tries to give answers to this questions, and prefers to indicate the qualification of the contratti territoriali as public agreements and not as public contracts.