Administrative court rejects challenge to Sanremo's selection process, confirming RAI as festival organizer and broadcaster.
2:40 PM
Italy's Regional Administrative Court (TAR) for Liguria rejected a legal challenge to the Sanremo Music Festival's contract arrangement with RAI on May 4, 2026, upholding the municipality's selection process and the broadcaster's continued role as organizer and national television partner.
The court's decision, issued as ruling n. 555, dismissed a complaint filed by JE s.r.l., a company that had contested the procurement procedure established by the municipality of Sanremo. The ruling affirms that the municipality's framework for selecting a festival partner meets legal requirements and withstands administrative scrutiny.
The case emerged from an earlier TAR decision that had forced Sanremo to abandon its longstanding practice of awarding the festival contract directly to RAI without competitive bidding. That ruling required the municipality to establish a formal selection process with written rules and public criteria. The municipality complied by opening a competitive procedure while maintaining specific conditions for participation.
According to the court's analysis, the administrative framework established by Sanremo's selection process satisfies legal standards. The decision confirms that RAI's role encompasses both the organization of the festival as a live event and its transmission as free-to-air national television programming, alongside management of intellectual property rights and territorial obligations tied to the event.
The court distinguished between the factual elements contained in judicial records and the operational implications derived from the RAI-Sanremo municipality convention and the activities of a permanent oversight body established to monitor the arrangement.
JE s.r.l. had challenged the procurement structure on administrative grounds. The court's rejection of that challenge means the festival maintains its current organizational structure, with RAI continuing as the entity responsible for coordinating live entertainment production, television broadcast, brand exploitation, and compliance with local requirements.
The ruling closes the first substantive phase of judicial review regarding the new procurement architecture implemented after the prohibition on direct awards. The immediate administrative consequence is that the municipality's competitive selection process has survived legal challenge.
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