Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

Law No. 4 of 15 January 2026 (Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 15 of 20 January 2026, in force 21 January 2026) converted with amendments Decree-Law No. 175 of 21 November 2025 ("Transizione 5.0"). During parliamentary conversion the Camera dei Deputati inserted a new Article 2-bis that materially expands Italy's Golden Power foreign-investment screening regime (DL 21/2012) into the financial, credit, and insurance sectors — the first explicit statutory inclusion of banking and insurance qualifying-holding transactions inside the Golden Power perimeter. The amendment introduces "national economic and financial security" as a public-order criterion alongside the traditional security and public-order profiles, and conditions exercise of special powers in the financial sector on the prior conclusion of pending European prudential and competition proceedings (ECB / EIOPA / EU Commission).

Italy enacted Legge 23 settembre 2025, n. 132 — "Disposizioni e deleghe al Governo in materia di intelligenza artificiale" — published in Gazzetta Ufficiale Serie Generale n. 223 of 25 September 2025 (atto 25G00143) and entered into force on 10 October 2025. The statute makes Italy the first EU member state to enact a comprehensive national AI law complementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (EU AI Act), designating AgID (Agency for Digital Italy) and ACN (National Cybersecurity Agency) as national oversight authorities under Presidency-of-the-Council-of-Ministers coordination. It sets sectoral rules for healthcare, labour, intellectual professions, public administration and the judiciary; authorises up to €1 billion in state-backed venture capital (via CDP Venture Capital) for AI, cybersecurity and telecoms; creates criminal penalties of up to five years' imprisonment for harmful deepfakes; mandates parental consent for under-14 users; and delegates secondary legislation to the Government across multiple domains.

Italy's Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) signed a decree ("Disciplina degli interventi di sostegno alla domanda di servizi di cloud computing e cyber security") on 18 July 2025 establishing a EUR 150 million fund, drawn from FSC 2014-2020 resources, to subsidize SME and self-employed purchases of cloud computing and cybersecurity services nationwide. Beneficiaries receive a non-repayable grant covering up to 50% of eligible expenses, capped at EUR 20,000 per beneficiary, conditional on holding a connectivity contract of at least 30 Mbps download speed. Supplier registration (a prerequisite for the voucher's use) was originally set to close 23 April 2026 and was later extended to 27 May 2026; beneficiary application procedures follow once the authorized-supplier list is formed.

Italy's national development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) signed an agreement with Assifact, the Italian factoring industry association, to make available a EUR 1 billion "Plafond Factoring" dedicated to supporting liquidity for small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-cap companies operating in Italy. Banks and financial intermediaries draw on the CDP facility to acquire commercial credits from eligible companies (fewer than 250 full-time-equivalent employees for SMEs, fewer than 3,000 for mid-caps), providing short-term financing in pro-solvendo and/or pro-soluto factoring form. The measure is part of CDP's 2025-2027 Strategic Plan and follows over EUR 30 billion in similar liquidity plafonds CDP has deployed since 2009.

Mediocredito Centrale (MCC), the Italian state-owned bank controlled by Invitalia (Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance), signed a EUR 10 million loan with Coopservice, a facility-management cooperative group employing over 20,000 people across Italy and nine other countries. The financing supports working capital tied to Coopservice's innovation, environmental-sustainability, and transparency objectives, with MCC citing particular attention to Southern Italy, where the group employs over 3,200 workers. The deal channels state-bank credit to a domestic services group rather than financing a specific capital project.

Decreto-Legge 15 marzo 2012 n. 21 (GU n. 63 of 15 March 2012), converted with amendments into Legge 11 maggio 2012 n. 56 (GU n. 111 of 14 May 2012), establishes Italy's "Golden Power" special-powers regime — the foundational statute authorising the Italian Government to impose conditions on, veto, or prescribe remedies for corporate transactions in strategic sectors. The decree marked Italy's transition from a golden-share model (applicable only to privatised companies) to a sector-wide golden-power model applicable to any company carrying out activities of strategic relevance. Administered by the Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri (DICA), the regime has been progressively extended from its original defence + national-security + energy/transport/ communications scope to cover 5G, cloud, critical-raw-materials, financial-credit-insurance, agri-food, healthcare, media, space, and AI through a series of amending decrees from 2019 to 2026.