Anti-SLAPP Directive in Italy: The Italian government’s proposal lacks ambition and dialogue

On 15 July, the European Commission sent Italy a letter of formal notice, the first step in infringement proceedings, for failing to transpose the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive by the 7 May 2026 deadline.

Last week, MFRR partner Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), in its capacity as coordinator of CASE Italia, the Italian working group of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), took part in a hearing before the Justice Committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. During the hearing, it presented the working group’s submission on the government’s draft legislative decree transposing the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive.

CASE Italia’s submission, which was sent to all relevant parliamentary committees, highlighted that the Italian government’s proposal regrettably amounts to little more than a symbolic and ineffective transposition of the Directive. Moreover, it contains certain provisions that are potentially incompatible with European Union law, such as a restrictive interpretation of the definition of “cross-border.”

CASE Italia condemns the lack of ambition in the government’s proposal, which stems from its failure to engage with civil society despite the numerous calls for dialogue addressed to the Ministry of Justice since 2023. It also regrets that the proposal has been rushed through in the run-up to the summer recess. This accelerated timetable has not allowed for the careful consideration that an issue of such importance for the democratic system and the protection of a free and healthy public debate deserves.

However, the working group’s recommendations appear to have been taken into account. The President of the Justice Committee of the Senate called on the Government to recalibrate the criterion relating to the “cross-border” nature of disputes, clarify the concept of “public participation”, and consider amending the decree’s provisions on legal costs. These are all recommendations that had been put forward by the working group in its written submission.

Given the severity of the legal harassment phenomenon in Italy, which too often is being practiced by public figures to silence investigative journalism, the transposition of the EU anti-SLAPP Directive by the Italian government has been the focus of MFRR advocacy missions to Rome both in 2024 and 2026.

While continuing to monitor the parliamentary debate in the coming weeks, OBCT and the other members of CASE Italia call on the relevant parliamentary committees to take into account the comments contained in the submitted brief. They also once again call on the Government to:

• incorporate the recommendations of the European Union and the Council of Europe by extending procedural safeguards to all SLAPP cases, whether domestic or cross-border, and to proceedings of any kind;
• establish a cap on the amount of financial compensation that may be claimed in damages;
• provide effective compensation for both material and non-material harm suffered by victims of SLAPPs;
• introduce effective and proportionate sanctions to deter serial perpetrators of frivolous litigation;
• clarify the provisions of the Directive so that the burden of proving the merits of a claim clearly rests with the claimant, thereby ensuring legal certainty and the effectiveness of the safeguards.

Finally, in the context of aligning Italy with international standards on the protection of freedom of expression, CASE Italia reiterates its call for the decriminalisation of defamation, which remains one of the principal legal tools used to bring SLAPP cases in Italy.