The Veiled Irreverence of the Italian Constitutional Court and the Contours of the Right to Silence for Natural Persons in Administrative Proceedings

Abstract

DB v Consob1 is the first case in which the Court of Justice of the European Union had to decide whether the right to silence is applicable to natural persons in the context of administrative proceedings which may lead to the imposition of a criminal penalty (in casu, on market abuse). Previously, the Court had had the occasion to adjudicate on the right to silence of legal persons in the area of market abuse or breach of competition law.2 The case also provided the Court with an opportunity to clarify an alleged discrepancy between its case law and that of the European Court of Human Rights. The latter appeared to recognise a broad content of the right to silence, including the right to remain silent on purely factual questions, whereas, in the field of competition law, the European Court of