Five directors of Italian museums, suspended after a controversial court ruling deemed their appointments illegal, have returned to work on a temporary basis.

The historic shakeup of Italy’s culture sector came in 2015, when the Italian government appointed 20 museum directors, seven foreign, to run the country’s flagging cultural institutions.

On 24 May however, an administrative court in Lazio ruled that five of the 20 appointments were null and void, saying one foreigner appointed should never have been eligible and that the selection process had not been transparent. The court also objected to the fact that some of the candidates were interviewed over Skype.

Italy’s highest administrative court – the Council of State – has now suspended the decision, which affects the appointments of Martina Bagnoli at the Galleria Estense in Modena; Paolo Giulierini, Eva Degl’Innocenti and Carmelo Malacrino at the National Archaeological Museums of Naples, Taranto and Reggio Calabri; and Austrian Peter Assmann, director of Mantua’s Ducal Palace, who was the only foreign director affected.

The effect of the court case has been significant, with Italy’s culture ministry as a result amending a 2001 law which meant that non-Italian EU nationals were not able to take on public positions within the country. In a statement the ministry said that the initial competition respected “not only European and national law, but also the highest international standards, as recognised by the International Council of Museums”.

The new change in direction is designed to bring Italy’s top museums in line with the world’s top museums and galleries. The shakeup in policy also seeks to give directors a larger influence over annual budgets and allow easier methods of raising private income in the face of drastic funding cuts.

The Council of State is due to hold a definitive public hearing on the case on 26 October. If the ruling then goes through, the five institutions left without a director will be managed by the heads of the museum groups in their respective regions.