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On 12 December 2013, the Italian communications authority - AGCOM (Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni) gave final approval, by deliberation no. 680/13/CONS, to a regulation concerning the protection of copyright on electronic communication networks, pursuant to the Italian Audiovisual and Radio Media Services Code (legislative decree no. 177/2005, as amended in 2010: see IRIS 2010-2/25 and IRIS 2010-4/31) and to the E-Commerce Directive, following a public consultation launched in July 2013 by deliberation no. 452/13/CONS. The approval of this regulation ends a process started in 2010,...

On 7 October 2013, the Italian Parliament approved the Law 112/2013 concerning the valorization of culture. Through Section 4 of this Law, the Italian Parliament aims to align its national law with the European Open Access policies emerging in the EU FP7 and in the EU Horizon 2020, as well as those expressed in the EU Commission’s Recommendation of 17 July 2012 on access to and preservation of scientific information and Commission’s Communication “Towards better access to scientific information: Towards better access to scientific information:Boosting the benefits of public investments...

In its judgment in the case of Ricci v. Italy the European Court of Human Rights found that the suspended prison sentence of a TV presenter for disclosing confidential images violated Article 10 of the Convention. The Court is of the opinion that the nature and severity of the prison sentence constituted a disproportionate interference with the applicant’s right to freedom of expression. The Court’s judgment confirms that prison sentences for defamation of public persons or for making confidential information public, in principle amount to a breach of Article 10 of the Convention (see...

On 30 August 2013, the Third Chamber of the Council of State affirmed the judgment handed down by the Latium Administrative Court on 11 July 2012 (see IRIS 2012-8/31) concerning the encryption by RAI, the Italian public service media operator, of some of its programming and its refusal to supply them on a free-to-air basis with the satellite pay-tv operator Sky Italia. For several years, Sky Italia users could view RAI’s programmes via their Sky Italia decoder box. In September 2008, RAI, RTI, and TI Media, the three main Italian free-to-air television operators, set up a joint venture named Tivù....

The European Court of Human Rights has delivered a new judgment against Italy for interfering with the freedom of expression and public statements related to the “war” between judges, prosecutors and the police in the context of combating the Mafia (see also Perna v. Italy (GC), see IRIS 2003-8/2). The judgment reflects a tension between the freedom of parliamentary speech on the one hand, and the restrictions and obligations on the media reproducing or publishing statements by politicians covered by their parliamentary immunity on the other hand (see also Cordova no.1 and no.2 v. Italy,...