Italian accounting law changes illegal says ECJ Advocate General

Changes to Italian financial laws brought in under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi break EU law according to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General. Juliane Kokott said that although member states had leeway in framing accounting regulations, they could not limit the time for bringing false accounting charges and widen allowed margins of tolerance over false accounts as Italy had done. The amendments, she averred, broke EU rules which demand penalties against such irregularities to be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”.