Corporate subsidiarity
Third-sector activities, amidst economy and new legislative regulations
Subsidiarity and corporate cultures – how the third sector relates to the whole of society. Third-sector organisations whose operations and production should be efficient yet not purely focused on profit, and, a sector that needs to be properly understood in order to be suitably governed through shared regulations. These are the interrelated topics around which Antonio Saporito (researcher at the University of Bergamo) discusses in his “Le Fondazioni nel Terzo Settore” (“Third-sector foundations”), a contribution recently published in the Società e Diritti (Society and Rights) journal.
Saporito analyses, from a legislative standpoint, the nature of third-sector organisations, and after clarifying its meaning he then retraces its legislative history up to the establishment of such foundations, which represent a key tool in assisting current, and future, enterprises.
As the researcher notes, while developing and taking on a leading role in some sectors, third-sector institutions found themselves operating in a precarious balance, amidst laws that pertained to different subjects and a distinct lack of regulations specific to them. The need for clear legislation relating to the third sector – met by the implementation of the Italian Third-Sector Code – subsequently highlighted its strong bond with that subsidiarity principle sanctioned by the Italian Constitution itself, and enhanced the awareness of a third-sector culture that was distinctly different from corporate culture, though not necessarily pitted against it.
Thus, that particular third-sector approach to economic and social interventions became a valuable legislative heritage, and, as Saporito concludes, “Asserting that non-profit institutions expose the fundamental trait of the Constitution’s core principles suggests that their presence, activities and therefore legislative framework all deserve special consideration and that, in the event of possible conflicts, it is the duty of the EU to find forms and ways to integrate, within its system, this national ‘constitutional heritage’.”
Le Fondazioni nel Terzo Settore (“Third-sector foundations”)
Saporito Antonio
Società e Diritti, e-journal, 2023, VIII, no.15
Third-sector activities, amidst economy and new legislative regulations
Subsidiarity and corporate cultures – how the third sector relates to the whole of society. Third-sector organisations whose operations and production should be efficient yet not purely focused on profit, and, a sector that needs to be properly understood in order to be suitably governed through shared regulations. These are the interrelated topics around which Antonio Saporito (researcher at the University of Bergamo) discusses in his “Le Fondazioni nel Terzo Settore” (“Third-sector foundations”), a contribution recently published in the Società e Diritti (Society and Rights) journal.
Saporito analyses, from a legislative standpoint, the nature of third-sector organisations, and after clarifying its meaning he then retraces its legislative history up to the establishment of such foundations, which represent a key tool in assisting current, and future, enterprises.
As the researcher notes, while developing and taking on a leading role in some sectors, third-sector institutions found themselves operating in a precarious balance, amidst laws that pertained to different subjects and a distinct lack of regulations specific to them. The need for clear legislation relating to the third sector – met by the implementation of the Italian Third-Sector Code – subsequently highlighted its strong bond with that subsidiarity principle sanctioned by the Italian Constitution itself, and enhanced the awareness of a third-sector culture that was distinctly different from corporate culture, though not necessarily pitted against it.
Thus, that particular third-sector approach to economic and social interventions became a valuable legislative heritage, and, as Saporito concludes, “Asserting that non-profit institutions expose the fundamental trait of the Constitution’s core principles suggests that their presence, activities and therefore legislative framework all deserve special consideration and that, in the event of possible conflicts, it is the duty of the EU to find forms and ways to integrate, within its system, this national ‘constitutional heritage’.”
Le Fondazioni nel Terzo Settore (“Third-sector foundations”)
Saporito Antonio
Società e Diritti, e-journal, 2023, VIII, no.15