CAT/OP/ITA/1/Add.1 administrative, IT and security expertise) of the prison, judicial, juvenile and public security administrations. Such staff are exclusively at the service to the Authority and cannot be sent to other offices without its favorable opinion (Article 4, para. 2, of Decree of the Minister of Justice No. 36 of 11 March 2015); this allows for the functional independence of the Office’s staff. 101. The collegiate members of the body and its staff work in Rome; its headquarters are located in Via San Francesco di Sales 34 (Article 6 of the Code of self-regulation of the activities of the Office), where on 27 April 2016 the first press conference to launch the new body was held. 102. Decree of the Minister of Justice No. 36 of 11 March 2015, in defining the independent functional operation of the new body, makes explicit reference in the introduction to the law on the “Ratification and implementation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, done at New York on December 18, 2002” (Law No. 195 of 9 November 2012) and, in particular, to Articles 17 et seq. of the Protocol. In addition, in its Article 2(b), it provides that the Authority shall adopt a Code of self-regulation of the Office’s activities - thus the rules governing the operation of the body, the guiding principles of its conduct, of the conduct of the members of the Office and of all those who, for whatever reason, cooperate with the Authority -, are in accordance with the OPCAT principles. 103. Consistently, the Authority promptly adopted by Decision of May 31, 2016, the aforementioned self-regulatory code. Article 2 of this Code underlines that the Authority functions shall be carried out in accordance with the powers conferred by the 2014 law setting up the body, by the regulation in the already mentioned Ministerial Decree and, therefore, in particular, in accordance with the principles set out in Part IV, Articles 17 to 23, of the UN Protocol. In listing the functions of the Authority, the Code specifies, inter alia, that it shall examine – on a regular basis - the situation of persons deprived of their liberty who are in places, including mobile places, under OPCAT Article 4 (i.e. in all places of deprivation of liberty, however described and whatever the responsible authorities); shall actively work to improve the treatment and the situation of persons deprived of their liberty and prevent torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, proposing, if necessary, the strengthening of safeguards which it shall identify also through the exchange of information and mutual cooperation with the Subcommittee on prevention of torture and other national protection mechanisms established by other States which ratified the UN Protocol; shall draw up the annual report on its activities which shall include the necessary recommendations and forward it to the President of the Republic, the President of the Constitutional Court, the President of the Senate of the Republic, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the Prime Minister, the Defense, Justice, Interior and Health Ministers, also publishing the report both on its website and on that of the Justice Ministry. Therefore, the Authority is clearly outlined as a preventive instrument in relation to inhuman and degrading treatment and torture. Through the annual report, the Authority provides observations which can directly give guidelines on the legislative activity under discussion and in the process of being adopted. This practice is in fact already in place, since the National Authority has already been involved by the Justice parliamentary committees in order to have opinions about the legislation in the process of being adopted. Article 3 of the Code explicitly states that the Authority freely exercises its mandate carrying out totally independently and without any interference its institutional duties to protect the rights of those detained or deprived of their liberty. 104. In particular, the Authority makes use of facilities and resources made available not only by the Ministry of Justice, but also by other State administrations and EU and international organizations operating in line with the objectives of the law establishing the Authority and in full compliance with the principles of the UN Protocol. Therefore, the 19