Act No. 97 on mountain areas.

This Act is designed for the protection and the redevelopment of mountain areas in implementation of article 44 of the Constitution. The Act institutes the National Mountain Fund, at the Ministry of the Budget and Economic Planning. The resources of the Fund come from Community, central government and public entity transfers and are entered in a separate chapter in the budget of the Ministry of the Budget and Economic Planning. The Act vests mountain organizations established to manage agricultural and pastoral resources with legal personality under private law, and recognises the right of these organizations to draft their own Articles of Association. In the mountain communities, persons inheriting leases may acquire ownership of the leased land when the lease expires. In order to acquire ownership, the heirs must notify the coheirs within six months of the expiry date of the lease by registered post and recorded delivery of their declaration of acquisition, and within three months of service they must effect payment. The Act also provides that mountain communities may, individually or in association with others, and within their own territory, encourage the management of their forests under contracts between proprietors.
They may also promote the constitution of forestry consortia, which may also be coercive if this is requested by owners of at least three-quarters of the area concerned. The Act also institutes a register of mountain products to be kept by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Resources, and provides that all products produced in the mountain shall be marked "Product of the Italian Mountains". The Act also provides financial benefits and incentives for persons transferring their residence and activity from a non-mountain community to a mountain community, provided that they undertake not to move away for ten years.