ItalyDecreto-legge 15 settembre 2023, n. 123 (Decreto Caivano, Youth Hardship Decree), Art. 13-bis, converted by Legge 13 novembre 2023, n. 159
D.L. 123/2023, Art. 13-bis, conv. con modificazioni dalla L. 159/2023
In force since .
An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
- Age threshold
- 18
- Covered services
- Websites and video-sharing platforms distributing pornographic images or videos in Italy
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- Market targeting
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Applies to website operators and video-sharing platform providers that distribute pornographic images or videos in Italy.
- A provider established in another Member State is not bound until AGCOM has followed the procedure of Article 3(4)(b) of Directive 2000/31/EC, as TAR Lazio held in judgments published on .
- Verify that users are adults before granting access to pornographic content.
- Follow the technical and process rules AGCOM (the communications regulator) sets for how that age verification is done.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (AGCOM) (guidance, recorded ); TAR Lazio, Roma, sez. IV, 7 aprile 2026, n. 6281 (recorded ).
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalties
AGCOM may order the blocking of noncompliant sites or platforms after a formal warning and 20 day cure period, alongside administrative fines that AGCOM has stated can reach 250,000 euros
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
AGCOM (Autorita per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni)
Settledness
The Fourth Section of TAR Lazio annulled the part of the delibera that starts the measures against providers established in other Member States three months after the list, in a first-instance judgment.
- As of
- Case link
- https://mdp.giustizia-amministrativa.it/visualizzah2/?nodeRef=&schema=tar_rm&nrg=202600135&nomeFile=202606281_01.html&subDir=Provvedimenti
- Guidance link
- https://www.agcom.it/sites/default/files/provvedimenti/delibera/2026/Delibera%20n.%2074_26_CONS.pdf
- Case citation
- TAR Lazio, Roma, sez. IV, 7 aprile 2026, n. 6281
- Guidance body
- Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (AGCOM)
- Open questions
- Does Article 13-bis of Decree-Law 123/2023 bind a provider established in another Member State once AGCOM has followed the procedure of Article 3(4)(b) of Directive 2000/31/EC, and from what date?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Article 13-bis(2) requires website operators and video-sharing platform providers that distribute pornographic content in Italy to verify the age of users, and paragraph 3 leaves the technical and process rules to the communications authority, with data minimization. The article requires no log or record of the checks. Under paragraph 5 the authority supervises the application of the article and may act of its own motion, which names no record to be examined.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Establishes a legal duty for website operators and video sharing platform providers that distribute pornographic images or videos in Italy to verify that users are adults before granting access, delegating the technical and process details to AGCOM.
In judgments published on the regional administrative court of Lazio (TAR Lazio), after disapplying Article 13-bis, annulled the part of AGCOM's implementing delibera that starts the duty against providers established in other Member States three months after the list of covered sites, because AGCOM had not first asked the Member State of establishment to act or notified the European Commission.
The court rejected the argument that the Digital Services Act leaves no room for the national duty. AGCOM must follow the procedure of Article 3(4)(b) of Directive 2000/31/EC before the measures reach a provider established in another Member State.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app publishes adult content.
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