National System for Environmental Protection

ISPRA is part of a network known as National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA), which is made up of 21 Territorial Environmental Protection Agencies (ARPA / APPA), established by Regional Laws. It's an example of consolidated federal system, which combines the direct knowledge of the territory and its issues with the national policies for environmental protection, so as to become an institutional and technical-scientific reference point for the whole country.
The establishment of ISPRA fosters the cohesion of the system, while respecting the territorial differences, and promotes the collaboration and the consistent addressing of enviromental themes.
In fact, since the establishment of the first regional agencies, there was a clear need to create occasions and spaces for discussion and debate among the ARPA / APPA, in order to promote a coordinated development. For this reason the law establishing APAT, then ISPRA, provided for a Federal Council, chaired by the President of ISPRA and formed by ISPRA's Director General and by the legal representatives of each ARPA / APPA, with consultive functions on the agreement between the ISPRA and the Ministry of Environment, with particular regard to the allocation of funding and the use of resources, to the technical and operational methodologies used by ARPA / APPA.