The Regional Administrative Court for Lazio (Second Section) accepted - by decree - the appeal presented by an amusement arcade against the Customs and Monopolies Agency, in which it requested the annulment, subject to suspension of effectiveness, of the note prot. n. 18434/RU of 28 December 2023 and notified on 9 January 2024, with which the Customs and Monopolies Agency ordered the closure of the commercial business called "(...)" for a period of ten days.
“Given that – explain the judges – the function of the precautionary decree is not to anticipate the judgement, but only to prevent irreversible prejudices, such that they cannot be avoided even by the collegial precautionary measure; given that, for these purposes, the severity of the damage must be assessed with a reasonable comparison of the effects that the precautionary measure produces on the opposing interests of the parties; considering that in light of the concrete data that characterize the case of the complaint filed and the legitimizing position of the appellant company, the same is currently affected, as an operator of the activity of collecting gambling through the installation of devices video terminals (VLT) for legal gaming, pursuant to art. 110, paragraph 6, letter. a) and b) of the TULPS, from the adoption of the note in the epigraph, closing the relevant commercial year for ten days starting from 9 February 2024; considered that the conditions of extreme gravity and urgency prescribed by the invoked art. can be considered to exist. 56, paragraph 1, of the code. proc. adm.; considered, therefore, that the represented prejudices can certainly be remedied by deferring the execution of the aforementioned contested provision until and no later than the date of the available council chamber of 28 February 2024, in the context of which any collegial decisions may be taken suitable for the definition of the judgment in the state in which it is found; accepts the request for a monocratic precautionary measure in the terms set out in the justification. The council chamber is scheduled for 28 February 2024, normal hours, for the collegial discussion".
