With the law of November 2, 2019, no. 128, which converted into law the legislative decree of September 3, 2019, no. 101, also known as "Dl crisi aziendali", the legislator has finally implemented new criteria for the application of sanctions in the event of proven breaches or irregularities in access to incentives for the production of energy from renewable sources.

The 2018 budget law already intervened on the subject, introducing in art. 42 of Legislative Decree 28/2011 the option for the GSE to reduce the incentive rate by adding this provision to the one related to loss of the incentive, in a measure between 20% and 80% for plants in operation for which incentives had already been recognized.

Law 128/2019 reduces this range even further as it provides the possibility for GSE, in case of proven violations, of providing the reduction of incentives in a range between 10% and 50%, in proportion to the extent of the violation and the possibility of reducing the incentive by half (and no longer only by one third) in cases where the violation is spontaneously reported (so-called Voluntary disclosure).

One of the most relevant aspects of the measure is "retroactivity": it also applies - at the request of the interested party - to plants that have received measures of non-recognition, withdrawal or suspension of the incentive with pending proceedings in the Regional Administrative Court or Council of State.

Barbara Paulangelo, director of the REA Technical Advisory Area, says: “At this point, the approval of the implementing decree by the MISE is essential for the declination of deductions in the various cases of violation andfor a wider categorization of the so-called "minor violations. Our concern is about how the sanctions for "combined" infringements of various breaches will be codified and how this legislation will fit in with the now thousands of controls already carried out on plants that have been in operation for almost ten years.".