On 10 June 2026, the Italian Council of Ministers approved, in preliminary examination, two draft legislative decrees implementing Law No. 132/2025 and aligning the national framework with Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (“AI Act”).

This is not the first legislative step taken by the Italian Government on AI. The two decrees follow Bill No. 1146/2024, which later became Law No. 132/2025 and set out the general national framework in the field of artificial intelligence.

The texts are not final yet: they will still be reviewed by the parliamentary committees, the State-Regions Conference and the competent authorities, including the Italian Data Protection Authority. Still, the direction is already clear. For businesses developing, placing on the market or deploying high-risk AI systems, the most relevant developments concern civil, criminal and corporate liability.

Two Decrees, in Brief

The first decree focuses on AI literacy, education and training, as well as on the national competent authorities. It regulates AI in school, university, professional and public administration training, and confirms the prohibition on purely automated decisions concerning hiring, dismissal, changes to the employment relationship and disciplinary sanctions. On governance, the framework is built around AgID, as notifying authority, and ACN, as market surveillance authority and single point of contact with the EU.

The second decree deals with more sensitive uses of AI, including policing, protection of injured parties and liability for high-risk systems. Its approach is to allow AI as a supporting tool, but within a perimeter based on human control, proportionality, traceability and protection of fundamental rights. This post focuses on its civil, criminal and corporate liability provisions.

Civil Liability: Levelling the Playing Field

The second decree strengthens the position of individuals harmed by an AI system. The main issue is informational asymmetry: a claimant will often be unable to reconstruct how the system worked or to prove the causal link between the AI output and the damage suffered.

The proposed response is mainly procedural. It includes access to the system’s technical documentation, a presumption of causation, an alternative venue close to the injured individual’s residence, and the possibility of acting directly against the insurer. Rather than introducing a broad new set of substantive obligations for businesses, the decree appears aimed at making compensation claims more effective, while leaving existing rules on data protection and product liability in place.

Criminal Liability: The New Article 437-bis

On the criminal side, the decree introduces a new Article 437-bis of the Criminal Code, concerning the failure to adopt security measures in high-risk AI systems and their unlawful alteration.

This offence does not punish the use of artificial intelligence as such. It targets human and organisational conduct that makes high-risk AI systems concretely dangerous. In particular, it covers omissions or alterations which, in the design, placing into service or use of such systems, create a concrete danger to primary interests such as life, public safety or State security.

Criminal liability is limited to the most serious cases. Not every technical error or malfunction would be criminally relevant: the conduct must be capable of generating a concrete danger. For the negligent form of the offence, gross negligence is required, which suggests an attempt to avoid over-criminalising technological innovation.

Corporate Liability Under Legislative Decree 231/2001

A further important point concerns the potential extension of liability to entities under Legislative Decree No. 231/2001. The available materials indicate that the new Article 437-bis may also have consequences under the 231 framework, so that liability would not fall only on individuals, but could also involve the organisation benefiting from the development, placing into service or use of a high-risk AI system.

This point should be verified against the final text, particularly as to whether and how Article 437-bis will be included among the predicate offences under Legislative Decree No. 231/2001. In any event, for companies operating with high-risk AI systems, the direction is significant: existing 231 models and internal protocols may need to be reviewed in light of AI-related risks.

In practice, this would mean assessing whether the organisation has adequate safeguards around system security, traceability, human oversight, risk management, incident escalation and controls across the AI lifecycle. As in other areas of 231 liability, the adequacy and effective implementation of the compliance model would be central to mitigating the entity’s exposure.

Why It Matters

The texts may still change before final approval, but the signal for companies is already clear. Businesses should start mapping where high-risk AI systems are developed or deployed, assessing whether existing compliance frameworks adequately cover AI-related risks, and strengthening documentation, oversight and risk management mechanisms.

These steps will be important not only to mitigate potential criminal and corporate liability, but also to respond effectively to civil claims arising from the use of AI systems.

Contributed by Francesco Stagno D’Alcontres