(SMH) - Italian drivers who drink a bottle of wine before getting behind the wheel could face a fine of just a few hundred euros after a provincial governor reversed a law that allowed licences to be confiscated.

Campaigners have warned the new regulations are a "crippling blow" in the battle to clean up the country's roads, which have been among the most dangerous in the European Union for many years.

The new law will apply in Avellino, a province in Italy's southern Campania region, about 50 kilometres from Naples.

A road safety group criticised Carlo Sessa, the prefect of Avellino, for reversing regulations that said any driver caught with a blood alcohol content between 0.8 grams and 1.5 grams per litre of blood - the equivalent of 0.08 and 0.15 in the BAC measure used in Australia - faced a licence suspension of six to 12 months . 

The new rules mean a driver who has drunk eight glasses of wine could incur a fine of just €800 ($1200).

Mr Sessa wrote to each of the province's five police forces on July 20 warning they should "promptly enact the recent regulations".

Explaining his decision, he appeared to criticise the region's judiciary, who repeatedly cancelled the suspension of licences in the appeal courts.

The new regulations relieved the "heavy burden on public administration" this created, he wrote.

Giuseppa Cassaniti, president of the Italian Association for the Families and Victims of Road Deaths, told The Daily Telegraph the ruling was a "step backwards" for Italy.

"This sends the message that it is OK to flout the law; that it is OK to drive drunk," she said. "It's a crippling blow."

A spokesman for the Association of Supporters and Friends of Traffic Police said judges dismissed 90 per cent of breathalyser results, citing such reasons as high humidity levels or cold weather.

Emanuele Scafato, president of the Italian Society of Alcohology, said the ability to suspend licences had a "huge cultural value".

"It's a deterrent," he told Il Messaggero newspaper. "It protects those who drive, passengers and other vehicles."