By order of 6 March 2025, the Italian Supreme Court upheld the appeal brought against Judgment No. 1644/2019 of the Court of Appeal of Rome, which had confirmed the administrative pecuniary sanction imposed by CONSOB against the appellant – represented by Prof. Antonio Briguglio, Bruno Lorenzo Cova and Francesca Petronio – for an alleged violation of Article 187-bis(4) of the Italian Consolidated Law on Finance (Testo Unico della Finanza – TUF) concerning unlawful disclosure of inside information. The sanctions also included the ancillary disqualification provided for under Article 187-quater(1) TUF and the confiscation of assets.
The Supreme Court upheld the first ground of appeal, declaring the remaining six grounds absorbed, with particular regard to the validity of the notification of the statement of objections under Article 187-septies(1) TUF on a person residing in another Member State of the European Union.
The Court held that, consistently with the principles established by the Joint Chambers of the Supreme Court (Judgment No. 2866 of 5 February 2021), Regulation (EC) No. 1393/2007 does not apply to the notification of CONSOB sanction notices, since that Regulation is expressly limited to civil and commercial matters and excludes fiscal, customs and administrative matters from its scope.
In the present case, the High Court of Justice in London had also set aside the certificate issued under Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No. 1393/2007, which had incorrectly certified that the notification had been duly effected.