Government & Regulatory Affairs in Italy

Essentials guide · Source-checked research100% of statements checked against a source44 checked against an official source7 checked against a secondary sourceChecked 2026-10-19Not yet professionally reviewed

• Under Law 181/89, Invitalia manages grants and loans of up to 75 percent for projects of at least EUR 1 million in industrial crisis areas, with a fast track for strategic foreign investments of at least EUR 10 million.

  Industrial crisis areas only; subject to call availability.ICE - Italian Trade Agency (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation / Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy) · checked 2026-10-19

• Development Contracts support large investment projects with a minimum size of EUR 20 million (EUR 7.5 million for food processing), through grants and soft loans of up to 75 percent.

  Large projects; subject to funding availability.ICE - Italian Trade Agency (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation / Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy) · checked 2026-10-19

• Banca d'Italia supervises banks and non-bank financial intermediaries and handles authorisations to access the banking and financial market, with bank supervision carried out within the Single Supervisory Mechanism since November 2014.

  Banking and financial activities.Banca d'Italia · checked 2026-10-19

• Under Decree-Law 21/2012 the Government holds special powers (golden power) over companies holding strategic assets, starting with the energy, transport and communications sectors.

  Strategic sectors; later decrees extended the list. See it-transactions-004 for acquisitions.Senato della Repubblica / Camera dei deputati (Servizio Studi) · checked 2026-10-19

• The Garante per la protezione dei dati personali is the supervisory authority for the GDPR in Italy, and national rules are in the Personal Data Protection Code (Legislative Decree 196/2003) as amended by Legislative Decree 101/2018.

  National supplementing rules.Garante per la protezione dei dati personali · checked 2026-10-19

• Italy has transposed the NIS2 Directive, with the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) as single point of contact and CSIRT Italia within ACN.

  Entities in NIS2 sectors; medium and large entities as a rule.European Commission (Shaping Europe's digital future) · checked 2026-10-19

• Under the golden power regime the Government must communicate its decision within 45 days of the start of the procedure and can veto or set conditions on acquisitions of controlling stakes by non-EU buyers.

  Strategic assets; the 2020 rules described define non-EU buyers to include EU entities they control.Senato della Repubblica / Camera dei deputati (Servizio Studi) · checked 2026-10-19

• The EU FDI Screening Regulation (2019/452) sets requirements for national screening mechanisms, and a revised regulation requiring every member state to screen reached provisional political agreement on 11 December 2025 but awaits formal adoption.

  Pending EU change; adoption date not stated.European Commission (DG Trade) · checked 2026-10-19

Read the full guide: Licensing, incentives and sector rules