ItalyLegge 93/2023, Articles 2 and 5, AGCOM Orders to Disable Access to Unlawfully Distributed Content
Legge 14 luglio 2023, n. 93, artt. 2 and 5
In force since .
A notice and action rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Access restriction, Reporting
As of .
What it requires
- If you provide network access, run a search engine, or provide an information society service involved in any way in making the website or illegal service accessible, execute AGCOM's disabling order without delay and in any case within 30 minutes of its notification, by disabling DNS resolution of the listed domain names and routing of traffic to the listed IP addresses or by other technological and organizational measures that make the content unusable by end users.
- If you provide a VPN service or a publicly available DNS service, wherever you reside or are located, execute AGCOM's disabling orders in the same way.
- If you run a search engine or provide an information society service that is not involved in the accessibility of the site, still take, within the same 30 minutes of notification, all useful technical measures to hinder the visibility of the illegal content, including de-indexing the blocked domain names from search engines.
- If you assign IP addresses, run the registry of the .it country-code domain or register domain names, periodically restore the resolution and routing blocked under Article 2, after at least six months, for those not used for unlawful purposes.
- At AGCOM's request, inform the Rome public prosecutor's office without delay of all the activities you carried out to comply with an order and supply any data you hold that could identify the providers of the unlawfully distributed content.
If you get it wrong
Penalty structure
The third sentence of Article 1(31) of Law 249/1997, which Article 5(1) of this Law applies to each violation of an Article 2 order, sets an administrative fine from EUR 10,000 up to 2 % of the turnover in the last financial year closed before notice of the charge.
- Rule
- Turnover pct only
- As of
- Minimum
- 10,000
- Currency
- EUR
- Turnover percentage cap
- 2
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (AGCOM), which applies the sanction under Article 5(1).
What this law does
Article 2(1) provides that AGCOM, by its own measure, orders service providers, including network-access providers, to disable access to unlawfully distributed content by blocking the DNS resolution of domain names and the routing of network traffic to the IP addresses used mainly for unlawful activities.
In serious and urgent cases involving live broadcasts, first showings of films and audiovisual works, sports events and similar content, Article 2(3) has AGCOM adopt a precautionary measure by an abbreviated procedure without a hearing of the other side. The text in force names VPN service providers and publicly available DNS service providers, wherever resident and located, among the addressees of that order.
The measure is adopted on the request of the rightholder or licensee, a collective management or trade association with a mandate, or a trusted flagger within the meaning of Article 22(2) of the Digital Services Act. Under Article 2(4), the recipients of the request must remove or disable access promptly and in any case within a maximum of 30 minutes of the communication.
Article 2(5) requires network-access providers, search engine operators and information society service providers involved in any way in the accessibility of the website or illegal services to execute AGCOM's order without delay and in any case within 30 minutes of notification.
Search engine operators and information society service providers that are not involved in the accessibility of the site must still, within the same 30 minutes, take all useful technical measures to hinder the visibility of the illegal content, including de-indexing the blocked domain names.
Article 2(5-bis) requires IP-address assignment providers, the registry of the .it country-code domain and domain-name registrars to restore periodically the resolution and routing blocked under the Article, after at least six months and for those not used for unlawful purposes.
Article 2(7) requires the recipients of the orders, at AGCOM's request, to inform the Rome public prosecutor's office without delay of all the activities carried out to comply and to supply any data in their possession that could identify the providers of the unlawfully distributed content. Article 5(1) provides that for non-compliance with an Article 2 order AGCOM applies, for each violation found, the sanction in the third sentence of Article 1(31) of Law 249/1997.
That sentence sets, for non-compliance with AGCOM's orders protecting copyright and related rights, an administrative fine from EUR 10,000 up to 2 % of the turnover in the last financial year closed before notice of the charge. The consolidated text of Article 2 has been in force in its present form since .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform, reuses other publishers' content or provides telecom services.