Lawyers for GDPR Legislation in Italy
How the EU General Data Protection Regulation applies in Italy and what it means for companies handling personal data. Our GDPR lawyers can advise you.
Italy has applied the European Union’s legislation on privacy – General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on 25th of May 2018. The GDPR rules prescribe new regulations which refer to the safeguard of the privacy data of the Italian and European citizens. Through this legislation, businesses performing economic activities in the online environment are obliged to impose new measures on the collection of data from third parties, such as clients, internet users, employees and others.
The GDPR is supplemented by the Italian Legislative Decree 196/03 (as amended by Legislative Decree 101/2018)– Data Protection Law and the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) provided useful guidelines that can help local companies to transition to the new system. Our team of lawyers in Italy specialized in GDPR can offer legal assistance on the new data protection regulations that are prescribed by the new rule of law.
What does GDPR law regulate in Italy?
The main purpose of the new legislation is to offer a clear guarantee to the Italian and European citizens that their personal data is collected in a transparent manner. Following the provisions of the GDPR legislation, companies collecting data from users and clients must have a lawful basis, such as consent, a contract or a legal obligation. The legislation also prescribes the following:
- • personal data can be processed on the basis of a minor’s own consent for online (information society) services only from age 14 in Italy;
- • if the user has an age below 14 years old, his or her information may only be collected if the parents have provided their consent;
- • the user has to be informed on the manner in which his/her data is collected by a certain company;
- • the company must also mention if collecting certain data from a user is mandatory;
- • the user must also be informed on the period in which his/her personal data will be stored.
Our attorneys in Italy specialized in GDPR can offer more details.
Types of data under the GDPR law
The GDPR legislation defines certain categories of data. Under its provisions, personal data can refer to any information related to the identity of a person. However, it also defines sensitive data, in which case special consent must be obtained and our team of Italian lawyers, which are experts in GDPR, can offer more information.
As a general rule, sensitive data refer to the ethnic origin of a person, his/her political orientation, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, the state of health and others. This legislation prescribes special categories of personal data, such as genetic or biometric information and persons who are interested in more details concerning these categories of data are invited to contact our law firm in Italy specialized in GDPR for legal advice.
Francesco Dagnino, Attorney at Law · 1 October 2026