The Simplification decree slows down the no-5g Municipalities

The decree blocks ordinances prohibiting the installation of antennas. Mayors can only intervene with measures to minimize the impact

(Photo: Artur Widak / NurPhoto / Getty Images) The map of Italian Municipalities compiled by Wired has shown that 431 local administrations have decided, through ordinances of mayors and council and city council resolutions, to block the installation of 5G networks. A transversal stance, from North to South, involving 4.5 million citizens, that is, 1 Italian every 13.

With a rule contained in the latest decree law passed by the government, the so-called Simplification decree, for mayors it will no longer be possible to oppose the fifth generation antennas. In the fourth title dedicated to "simplifications in the field of business, environment and green economy", the last paragraph of the first article - focused on electronic communications networks and services - prescribes the modification of the provisions contained in law 36 of 2001 in which the municipalities were delegated the possibility of choosing whether or not to install the mobile phone antennas. Many local administrations, in recent months, have appealed to this provision based on an interpretation of the precautionary principle based on unfounded theses.

What happens now?

In the new standard, instead, it stated that “Municipalities may adopt a regulation to ensure the proper settlement of urban and territorial systems and minimize the exposure of the population to electromagnetic fields with reference to environmentally sensitive sites identified in a specific way, with the exclusion of the possibility of introducing limitations to the localization in areas of the generalised of the territory of the [...] networks of electronic communications of any kind” . In other words, the statutory auditors may adopt rules that minimize the impact to its citizens, but I can no longer oppose the installation of the antennas.

With the block of the ordinances of the mayors, therefore, the cover should start to be more widespread throughout the Italian territory . After testing in 10 major centres, the urban – including Milan, Turin, Bologna, Rome, Florence and Naples, the objective is to respect, in principle, the forecast of the consulting company Ernst & Young estimated that the 5g would be available by the end of 2020, the 17% of italians and, in 2021, for the 31%. The decree Simplifications has been built by the government to accelerate digital innovation . In addition, Italy, with respect to international commissions, fixed parameters are particularly stringent for the level of emissions .