Article 50 of the AI Act has applied directly in Italy since 2 August 2026, and Italy's own AI law (Law no. 132 of 23 September 2025) since 10 October 2025. The Commission lists the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) as market surveillance authority.
According to a secondary source, the law creates a criminal offence for harmful AI fakes (Article 612-quater Penal Code). We found no separate label format for product images in it.
| Status | in force |
|---|---|
| Applies from | 02/08/2026 |
| Legal basis | Art. 50 KI-VO; Legge 23 settembre 2025, n. 132 (in Kraft seit 10.10.2025) |
| Visible label | yes |
| Machine-readable | yes |
| Who is obliged | Providers, Deployers |
| Penalties | Art. 99 AI Act (SMEs: lower amount); plus criminal offence under Art. 612-quater Penal Code for harmful AI fakes (per secondary source 1 to 5 years) |
| Source quality | primary source |
Law no. 132/2025
The law was published in Official Gazette no. 223 of 25 September 2025. It sets principles, responsibilities and rules for some sectors. The government derives from its Article 3(3) that content generated or altered with generative AI must always be clearly identifiable, and requires the notice "Realizzato con contributo IA" on government spots on public broadcasting (circular no. 1/2026 of 16 July 2026). That is not a rule for private retailers, but it shows how strictly the government reads the principle.
Criminal law for harmful deep fakes
According to a secondary source, Article 26 of the law added Article 612-quater to the Penal Code. It punishes with one to five years' imprisonment anyone who shares or publishes AI-faked images, videos or voices that can mislead about their authenticity, without the person's consent, where this causes them unjust harm. Ordinary product images without real people are not affected. Anyone altering images of real people needs their consent anyway; a label does not replace it (guidelines paras. 124, 127).
What this means for retailers
Label under Article 50 as in the other member states, see EU. For Italian customers, Italian text next to "AI" makes sense, for example "Generato con IA". We found no wording prescribed by law for retailers.
Frequently asked questions
Does Italy have its own AI labelling law?
Italy has a general AI law (no. 132/2025), but we found no separate label format for product images in it. Article 50 AI Act applies to retailers.
Sources
Para. refers to the paragraph number in the European Commission's guidelines on Article 50, C(2026) 5054.
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act)EUR-Lex 路 Law 路 12 Jul 2024
- Italy: Law No. 132 of 23 September 2025Normattiva 路 Law 路 25 Sept 2025
- Italy: circular of the Department for Information and Publishing, 16 July 2026Presidenza del Consiglio 路 Authority 路 16 Jul 2026
- Italy: Gazzetta Ufficiale, Law 132/2025 (Art. 26, Art. 612-quater Criminal Code)Gazzetta Ufficiale 路 Law 路 25 Sept 2025
- European Commission: market surveillance authorities under the AI ActEurop盲ische Kommission 路 Authority 路 7 Sept 2026