Mandatory anti-abandonment seats from 7 November: what is at risk, how to protect oneself

3 'of reading

The obligation of anti-abandon seats for children in cars comes into force immediately: from 7 November and no longer from 6 March 2020, as would have been logical. The twist is contained in the circular of the Ministry of the Interior 300 / A / 9434/19/109/12/3/4/1, issued in the afternoon of the eve, 6 November. A novelty that displaces producers and, above all, risks causing serious consequences in the event of an accident.

The (possible) motivations
The circular does not explicitly explain the reasons that lead us to interpret in a so disruptive way the law 117/2018, which had introduced the new obligation specifying that it would have an effect only 120 days later the entry into force of the implementing ministerial decree that would set the technical characteristics of the devices.

It is this last provision, the Ministerial Decree of 2 October 2019 (published on 23 October), which comes into force on 7 November. Therefore, from this date they should have become mandatory only the technical features, whose producers and buyers would have had to comply, leaving 120 days to get in order.

This interpretation had been endorsed informally by the Ministry of Infrastructure itself. The Council of State, in its opinion on the Ministerial Decree, had observed that it was necessary to leave time to adapt, but the fact remained that the law 117/2018 provided for not only the 120 days, but also an entry into force, however, not later than the 1st last July.

Therefore, a further legal provision was needed to cancel the date of 1 July, which the Ministry of the Interior had considered materially not respectable, due to the lack of DM on the technical characteristics. But this provision has not arrived.