Dovere di collaborazione, preclusioni istruttorie e (confini oggettivi del) diritto al silenzio nelle indagini amministrative tributarie. Prime riflessioni su Corte cost. n. 137/2025

In its judgment no. 137 on 28th July 2025, the Constitutional Court declared the unmeritorious nature of the constitutional challenges about the evidential preclusions stipulated by Article 32, par. 4 of Presidential Decree no. 600/1973. This ruling involved an interpretation of the provision that aligns with the right to silence, conceptualised as a fundamental component of the “inviolable” right to defence (Article 24, par. 2 of the Constitution) and referable to the principle of “fair trial” (Article 6 ECHR and Article 14, par. 3(g) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). This pronouncement opens up particularly interesting avenues regarding the definition of the content and objective boundaries of this guarantee, especially in relation to the duty to cooperate incumbent upon the recipient of investigative requests within the sphere of tax assessment administrative proceedings.