English in Italian Public Competitions: What the Law Says

Italy is the second largest market by revenue for our app, and until today we had never written a word about the exam pressure Italian professionals actually face.

So we read the law. Not a summary of the law, the consolidated text on the Italian government's own portal. The statute has named English specifically since 2017. Not one of the regulations that tell administrations how to run a competition has caught up.

SpeakShark is free to build the speaking side of that, three AI conversation sessions a day with no card.

In this guide: the 2017 change · what the regulations say · zero mentions · the only level · what it means for you · fairness · limits · method · FAQ

Key takeaways

• Italian law has required an English test in every public competition notice since 1 January 2000, and has named English specifically since 22 June 2017.
• Before that date the same provision accepted at least one foreign language, so French or Spanish satisfied it.
• The word inglese appears zero times in the general concorsi regulation, in the 2023 decree that rewrote it, and in the regulation for managerial posts.
• No CEFR level is set anywhere. The only standard named in the whole chain is "advanced level", and only for managers.
• For managerial competitions the candidate chooses the language from those listed in the notice.

The statute has named English since 2017

The governing provision is article 37 of legislative decree 165 of 2001, titled "Accertamento delle conoscenze informatiche e di lingue straniere nei concorsi pubblici".

Here is the operative sentence as it stands today. Competition notices must provide for assessment of knowledge of the most common computer equipment and applications "e della lingua inglese, nonché, ove opportuno in relazione al profilo professionale richiesto, di altre lingue straniere".

English by name. Other foreign languages appear only as a possible addition, and only where appropriate to the professional profile.

Now the same sentence as it stood the day before. Normattiva records the previous text as in force from 24 May 2001 to 21 June 2017, and it ends "e di almeno una lingua straniera".

At least one foreign language. Under that version a candidate could satisfy the obligation with French, German or Spanish and never touch English.

The change took effect on 22 June 2017, the date legislative decree 75 of 2017 entered into force. One phrase moved English from one option among many to the language the statute names.

What the implementing regulations still say

A statute rarely reaches a candidate directly. What reaches you is the competition notice, and notices are drafted from the general regulation on public competitions.

That regulation is presidential decree 487 of 1994, extensively rewritten by presidential decree 82 of 2023. Article 3 sets out what a notice must contain. Point c) of the second paragraph requires the notice to state the number and type of tests, "ivi compreso l'accertamento della conoscenza di almeno una lingua straniera ai sensi dell'articolo 37, del decreto legislativo 30 marzo 2001, n. 165".

Read that twice. It cites article 37, and then paraphrases article 37 using the wording article 37 abandoned in June 2017.

The regulation that administrations copy from says any foreign language. The statute it cites says English.

The word English appears zero times

We checked this rather than assuming it, and we checked it the way that can be falsified.

The three documents run to about 75,000, 59,000 and 22,000 characters of text respectively, and none of them contains the word once. We are not summing those figures, because the 2023 decree rewrites articles of the 1994 regulation and the two overlap by design.

We ran the same count for control words on the same extracted text, because a zero is worthless if the extraction silently failed. "Concorso" returns 56 hits in decree 487 and 51 in decree 82. The text was there. The word simply is not.

The only level in the chain is advanced and only for managers

If you want to know what standard you are being held to, there is exactly one answer anywhere in this chain, and most candidates are not covered by it.

Presidential decree 272 of 2004 governs access to managerial roles. Its oral exam provision requires assessment of the candidate's knowledge of the foreign language "ad un livello avanzato", delivered through "la lettura, la traduzione di testi e la conversazione in una lingua straniera scelta dal candidato tra quelle indicate nel bando".

Three things follow from that single sentence.

• The standard is advanced level, not a CEFR band. B2 and C1 are never named.
• The assessment is explicitly spoken as well as written, since conversation sits alongside reading and translation.
• The candidate chooses the language from those the notice lists.

For everyone below managerial level, no comparable sentence exists. The statute delegates the level to a regulation, and the regulation that would set it does not.

This is the same shape we found across the French system, where the DCL state diploma and the CLES university certification each fix their own rules rather than inheriting one national level, and where engineering schools impose a B2 that the national framework never states.

What this means if you are sitting a concorso

The practical rule is short. The notice is the only document that binds your exam, so read it, and do not infer the level from the law.

• Expect an English element. The statute has required one since 2000 and named English since 2017.
• Do not expect a CEFR label. If the notice gives one, that is the notice's own choice.
• Do not assume the test is written only. The managerial regulation puts conversation in the oral exam, and notices for other roles are free to do the same.
• If you are applying for a managerial post, check which languages the notice lists, because you pick from that list.
• If the notice is silent on format, prepare for speaking anyway. It is the part candidates cannot improvise.

That last point is the one worth spending time on. Reading and translation reward preparation you can do silently. Conversation does not, and it is the component most often left until the notice appears. Our guides to role play scenarios and job interview practice cover the format, and an online speaking partner covers the frequency. If you want to know your starting point, test your speaking level free before you plan anything.

If you do end up needing a certificate, understand how the scoring works before you pay for one. CEFR levels for speaking explains the scale, what C2 actually means covers the top of it, and Cambridge speaking criteria by level shows which criterion actually decides a profile. For workplace tests specifically, OPIc against TOEIC Speaking is the comparison employers ask about most.

Why we are not accusing anyone of breaking the law

We want to be careful here, because it would be easy to write this finding as a scandal and it is not one.

A statute outranks a regulation in Italian law. Where article 37 says English and a regulation says a foreign language, the statute governs. Administrations that test English are following the law correctly, and nothing here suggests otherwise.

What the mismatch explains is variation. Drafters work from the regulation, the regulation carries pre 2017 wording, and so notices differ from one another far more than a candidate reading only the statute would expect.

We are also not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. It is a reading of published texts with the links included so you can check every sentence yourself.

What we could not verify

We did not survey actual competition notices. Our claims are about the statute and the regulations. How many notices in practice test English rather than another language, and at what level, is a separate question that needs a sample of live notices from the national recruitment portal.

We did not check regional or provincial rules. Italian regions and the autonomous provinces have their own recruitment law. The consolidated text we read explicitly preserves separate arrangements for the autonomous province of Bolzano on Italian and German, which is a signal that local rules can diverge.

We did not trace every amendment. We compared article 37 as in force today with the version in force until 21 June 2017. We did not audit every intermediate amendment to the other decrees.

We did not verify sector specific regimes. Schools, healthcare, the armed forces and the judiciary run recruitment under their own rules, and nothing here should be assumed to carry to them.

No Italian government body has confirmed our reading. This is our interpretation of the published texts, not an official position.

How we researched this guide

Every quotation comes from Normattiva, the Italian government's official portal for consolidated legislation, opened in a real browser and read on screen rather than through a search summary.

The comparison that produced the finding was only possible because Normattiva serves any article as it stood on a chosen date. We opened article 37 as in force today, then opened the same article with the date set to 21 June 2017, and read the two endings against each other. That is where "almeno una lingua straniera" and "della lingua inglese" separate.

For the regulations we pulled the complete consolidated text of each decree and counted occurrences of the word, then counted control words on the same extracted string to prove the extraction had worked. A count of zero is only evidence if you can show the text was actually there, and a silent extraction failure produces exactly the same zero as a genuine absence.

We also confirmed the amending decree by date rather than by reputation. Article 37's current text is recorded as in force from 22 June 2017, and legislative decree 75 of 2017 is recorded as entering into force on 22 June 2017. The dates match, which is what ties the change to that reform.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and it fits this situation for a specific reason. When the required level is undefined and the format is decided by a notice you have not read yet, the only safe preparation is general spoken fluency rather than drilling one test's task types.

You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and you get speaking feedback while the conversation is still running. The free tier gives basic feedback; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Being straight about the limits: a free session runs five minutes with four turns. That is daily maintenance, not a simulation of an oral exam with a commission in front of you.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, how it works walks through a session, and our Italy guide compares the options available locally. Sign up here if you would rather start talking than keep reading.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, and we are not affiliated with Cambridge English, the IELTS partners, Pearson or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

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Sources

• Normattiva, D.Lgs. 165/2001 article 37, text in force: the current wording naming the English language, the delegation of the level to regulations in paragraphs 2 and 3, and the article title
• Normattiva, D.Lgs. 165/2001 article 37, text in force to 21 June 2017: the previous wording requiring at least one foreign language, with its recorded validity window
• Normattiva, D.P.R. 487/1994, consolidated text: article 3 on the contents of a competition notice, including the at least one foreign language wording and the citation of article 37
• Normattiva, D.P.R. 82/2023: the decree that replaced the articles of the 1994 regulation quoted above
• Normattiva, D.P.R. 272/2004: the managerial access regulation, the advanced level standard, the reading, translation and conversation format, and the candidate's choice of language
• Council of Europe, CEFR Table 1, common reference levels global scale: the scale none of the Italian instruments above reference

FAQ