Chi decide sulle norme tecniche? Un'analisi del dialogo tra istanze tecniche e istanze politiche nella formazione e applicazione delle norme tecniche

The research aims at investigating the interaction between technical-scientific knowledge and law, adopting the perspective of technical legislation. Having defined technical rules as those rules, binding or voluntary, which are elaborated on the basis of technical-scientific facts, the research consists in an analysis of three sectors of the legal system which are characterized by a high impact of scientific knowledge (clinical trials, industrial emissions, product safety standards). The technical rules operating in each of these sectors have been identified and investigated, both from a formal perspective (in which legal sources are they incorporated? Which is their nature?) and seeking to highlight the decision-making process leading to their adoption. The results of the empirical analysis are then systematized from two complementary perspectives: primarily from a dogmatic standpoint, pointing out the mechanisms through which technical-scientific facts enter the domain of law (incorporation within the legal rule, general clauses, reference), and the tensions they determine in relation to the system of the sources of law. Secondly, the analysis of the decision-making processes aims at highlighting the different factors of legitimacy that come into play in the adoption of a technical rule, and in particular the interaction between political-constitutional legitimacy and technical-scientific legitimacy.