The taxation of sukuk in the Italian context: is Italy’s tax system ready for Islamic financial instruments?

This contribution analyzes the the Italian tax framework potentially applicable to sukuk, also in connection with the systems of some EU Member States which have already implemented guidelines or rules concerning such instruments.After a brief analysis of EU countries that have been adopted specific actions (legislative or regulatory) in order to set out a general perspective for the taxation of sukuk, then particular attention will be paid to the Italian situation, also with reference to possible future development

Copernicus high-resolution layers for land cover classification in Italy

The high-resolution layers (HRLs) are land cover maps produced for the entire Italian territory (approximately 30 million hectares) in 2012 by the European Environment Agency, aimed at monitoring soil imperviousness and natural cover, such as forest, grassland, wetland, and water surface, with a high spatial resolution of 20 m. This study presents the methodologies developed for the production, verification, and enhancement of the HRLs in Italy. The innovative approach is mainly based on (a) the use of available reference data for the enhancement process, (b) the reduction of the manual work of operators by using a semi-automatic approach, and (c) the overall increase in the cost-efficiency in relation to the production and updating of land cover maps. The results show the reliability of these methodologies in assessing and enhancing the quality of the HRLs. Finally, an integration of the individual layers, represented by the HRLs, was performed in order to produce a National High-Resolution Land Cover ma

Commercio elettronico diretto e imposizione sui redditi: beni digitali, beni immateriali e "dematerializzazione" dell'attività d'impresa

Profili generali e considerazioni metodologiche. I termini di confronto: il commercio elettronico, la digitalizzazione dei beni e delle attività e la nozione di bene immateriale. Le scelte di politica fiscale nella disciplina del commercio elettronico diretto. Gli effetti della digitalizzazione e dell'immaterialità dei beni commerciati in rete sull'esercizio della potestà impositiva. La stabile organizzazione nell'e-commerce diretto. Struttura organizzativa ed attività "dematerializzata". Qualificazione e tassazione delle operazioni telematiche aventi ad oggetto beni digitali, beni immateriali e prestazioni di servizi.Profili generali e considerazioni metodologiche. I termini di confronto: il commercio elettronico, la digitalizzazione dei beni e delle attività e la nozione di bene immateriale. Le scelte di politica fiscale nella disciplina del commercio elettronico diretto. Gli effetti della digitalizzazione e dell'immaterialità dei beni commerciati in rete sull'esercizio della potestà impositiva. La stabile organizzazione nell'e-commerce diretto. Struttura organizzativa ed attività "dematerializzata". Qualificazione e tassazione delle operazioni telematiche aventi ad oggetto beni digitali, beni immateriali e prestazioni di servizi.LUISS PhD Thesi

Assessing land take by urban development and its impact on carbon storage: Findings from two case studies in Italy

Land take due to urbanization triggers a series of negative environmental impactswith direct effects on quality of life for people living in cities. Changes in ecosystem services are associated with land take, among which is the immediate C loss due to land use conversion. Land use change monitoring represents the first step in quantifying land take and its drivers and impacts. To this end, we propose an innovative methodology for monitoring land take and its effects on ecosystem services (in particular, C loss) undermulti-scale contexts. The devised approach was tested in two areas with similar sizes, but different land take levels during the time-span 1990–2008 in Central Italy (the Province of Rome and theMolise Region). The estimates of total coverage of built up areaswere calculated using point sampling. The area of the urban patches including each sampling point classified as built up areas in the year 1990 and/or in the year 2008 is used to estimate total abundance and average area of built up areas. Biophysical and economic values for carbon loss associated with land take were calculated using InVEST. Although land take was 7–8 times higher in the Province of Rome (from 15.1% in 1990 to 20.4% in 2008) than in Molise region, our findings show that its relative impact on C storage is higher in the latter,where the urban growth consistently affects not only croplands but also semi-natural land uses such as grasslands and other wooded lands. The total C loss due to land take has been estimated in 1.6 million Mg C, corresponding to almost 355 million €. Finally, the paper discusses the main characteristics of urban growth and their ecological impact leading to risks and challenges for future urban planning and land use policies

'The Constitutionality of the UK’s Notification to Leave the European Union'

The chapter explores the question of the constitutionality of the UK's withdrawal from the European Union and how the UK commenced its departure from the EU under Article 50. The authors consider the legality and constitutionality of the decision contained in the UK's notification to withdraw which they argue is an important starting point when analysing the parliamentary Brexit process. Konstadinides and Sallustio argue that without a constitutionally valid decision, a process of withdrawal from an international organisation can be contested as being unlawful and thus invalid, and they explore this point within the context of the Supreme Court judgment in Miller I

Evaluating the potential of marginal lands available for sustainable cellulosic biofuel production in Italy

The European Union aims to provide as much as one quarter of its transportation fuels via biofuels derived from renewable sources by 2030. To put this into perspective, the Italian government has recently established an ambitious goal to support the wider uptake of advanced second-generation biofuels, including cellulosic biofuels for the transportation sector. A sustainable way forward is to grow perennial biomass crops on marginal lands, however the nationwide availability of those lands for lignocellulosic feedstock production remains uncertain. We identify and evaluate the potential of marginal lands in Italy to produce sizeable amounts of biomass for sustainable cellulosic biofuel production while limiting land use conflicts and negative ecological impacts. We applied spatial multi-criteria decision analysis techniques in geographic information systems to ultimately generate spatially-explicit national land suitability and availability maps at a fine resolution (250-m). We selected a broad range of leading cellulosic biomass crops that includes poplar (Populus × canadensis Moench), willow (Salix alba Linnaeus), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia Linnaeus), giant reed (Arundo donax Linnaeus), and vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides Linnaeus). Based on marginality criteria, our results suggest that such biomass plantations of perennial grasses and short rotation trees may produce 3.1–27.4 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol per year from 462,265 to 2,811,064 million hectares of available marginal lands. This estimated production may fulfill 7.8–69.1% of Italy's current liquid transportation fuel consumption, constrained by the requirement that each modelled location be within 70 km of a potential cellulosic biorefinery. Collectively, this study provides the cornerstone of efforts to rationally meet Italy's need for renewable fuels in a sustainable low-carbon economy future

Case report: Fulminant pneumococcal sepsis in an unvaccinated asplenic patient in Italy

We report a fatal case of overwhelming pneumococcal infection in an asplenic young adult not vaccinated against Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae). Post-mortem microbiological investigations revealed the presence of S. pneumoniae in blood samples and lungs. Serotyping by molecular methods identified the presence of a 6C serotype not comprised in the current 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine, highlighting that a risk of fatal infections may persist even in vaccinated splenectomised individuals