La Corte definisce l’assetto delle competenze legislative regionali in tema di fine vita, tra punti fermi e (alcune) incertezze argomentative (Nota a Corte cost. 29 dicembre 2025, n. 204)

In Judgment No. 204/2025, the Italian Constitutional Court addressed, for the first time in proceedings concerning a principal challenge to legislation, the issue of end-of-life decisions. The case arose from an action brought by the Government challenging Tuscany Regional Law No. 16/2025, entitled “Organisational Arrangements for the Implementation of Constitutional Court Judgments Nos. 242/2019 and 135/2024.” The decision, in conjunction with the judgment No. 148/2026, constitutes an important point of reference for regional legislators because, while it acknowledges the Regions’ authority to regulate the procedural aspects of assisted suicide, placing such measures within the substantive area of the “protection of health”, it also observes that this does not preclude individual provisions from infringing upon the legislative competence reserved to the State. Through a detailed examination of each provision of the Tuscan legislation, the Court identifies the limits within which analogous legislative measures must operate, issuing a series of specific findings of unconstitutionality. In certain instances, these findings affect the substantive rules enacted by the Region, whereas in others, being concerned exclusively with questions of legislative competence, they produce a “formal effect”, without either affecting the framework of principles that the Regional Health Service facilities are required to observe or the scope of the rights enjoyed by applicants.