Italy

Military items

The control of the export and import of armament materials is regulated by Law 9 July 1990, n.185 "New rules on the control of export, import and transit of armament materials".

The legislation was amended by Legislative Decree No. 105 of 22 June 2012 to allow the transposition of the "Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council 2009/43/EC of 6 May 2009 simplifying terms and conditions of transfers of defence-related products within the Community".

Law 185/90 et seq. was then supplemented by the implementing regulation - Ministerial Decree No. 19 of 7 January 2013.

In 2012, the National Authority - UAMA (Unita per le autorizzazioni dei materiali d'armamento) was established, called upon to ensure the application of Italian regulations, supplemented by European and international regulations.

The operations covered by the Law must comply with Italy's foreign and defence policy. They are therefore authorised within the framework of the directives of the Government and Parliament.

The process of gradual Europeanisation of national verification procedures on the movement of armaments materials is also based on the political commitments made in the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in particular the Common Position of the Council of the European Union 2008/944/CFSP of 8 December 2008, a guideline which replaced and strengthened the European Code of Conduct on the control of exports of military technology and equipment.

With regard to the policy on the movement of armaments materials, Italy acts in close liaison with the other EU Member States, with whom there are periodic operational consultation meetings in Brussels, as well as in a framework of coordination with our main allies. Italy continues to be at the forefront in consolidating the process of progressive Europeanisation of national verification procedures for the movement of armaments materials.

Companies' requests to the National Authority - UAMA to obtain export licences for armament materials are examined in a rigorous and articulated manner, case by case, on the basis of national and international regulations.

The assessment of possible authorisations to non-EU-NATO countries involves various Italian Ministries and Authorities beforehand:

a) in the analysis of the merits of the individual transaction, right from the corporate communication on the start of commercial negotiations addressed not only to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also to the Ministry of Defence;

b) with the opinions prior to the final export/import authorisation, following the negotiation phase with the signing of the contract, submitted to the Interministerial Advisory Committee composed of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Interior, Economic Development, Economy and Finance - Customs and Monopolies Agency, and Environment. The Authority also makes use of the binding opinions, in the presence of classified information, of the Prime Minister's Office - Security Intelligence Department/DIS - Central Office for Secrecy/UCSe.

Italian and European legislation is supplemented, within the framework of articulated national evaluation procedures, by the normative, policy and harmonisation acts of the UN, EU, OSCE and Wassenaar Arrangement; by the results of the periodic consultations among Member States in the Common Foreign and Security Policy Working Group of the Council of the European Union on Conventional Arms Control (COARM); and by the provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), to which the EU, within the framework of the European Security Strategy, devotes funds and activities in support of its full implementation and universalisation.

On the multilateral level, the National Authority - UAMA monitors the work of COARM within the EEAS; of the European Commission on the application of Directive 43/2009/EC; of the Wassenaar Arrangement (on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual- Use Goods and Technologies), signed on 19 December 1995 by the 17 Member States of the ex-Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), including Italy; the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), the International Arms Trade Treaty, to which Italy acceded in 2013, for the part relating to the elaboration of national reports and related policies.

Authorisations and licences are divided into the following types:

(a) individual authorisation, which concerns the transfer (EU/EEA) or export (non-EU) of a specific quantity and value of specified armament materials (tangible; intangible such as software and technology; services) to a predetermined recipient;

(b) global transfer licence (EU/EEA), which covers the transfer of specific defence equipment, without limitation of quantity and value, to authorised recipients located in one or more Member States;

c) global project licence for programmes (EU/EEA and non-EU), which concerns exports and imports of armament materials to be carried out within the framework of joint intergovernmental programmes with companies of EU or NATO Member Countries with which Italy has signed specific agreements

d) global industrial project licence (EU/EEA and non-EU), which concerns exports and imports of defence materials to be carried out within the framework of industrial research, development and production programmes with companies of EU/EEA or NATO Member States with which Italy has signed specific agreements

e) general transfer authorisations (EU/EEA): decrees of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, which authorise suppliers on the national territory, who comply with the terms and conditions of the authorisations themselves, to carry out transfers of pre-determined defence materiel to recipients located in one or more Member States

f) brokering, understood as the set of activities carried out exclusively by entities registered with the National Register of Enterprises (RNI), referred to in Article 3 of Law 185/90 as amended, which

f1) negotiate or arrange transactions that may involve the transfer of goods included in the Common List of Military Equipment from a Member State (EU/EEA) or from a third State to any other State

(f2) buy, sell or arrange the transfer of goods in their possession from a Member State or third State to any other Member State or third State.

The National Authority - UAMA participates in the Coordination Group of the Presidency of the Council for the exercise of special powers, the so-called "golden power" (Decree Law 21/2012 converted into Law no. 56/2012, amended by Conversion Law no. 172/2017; Prime Ministerial Decree of 6 August 2014), for the strategic sector of defence only, in order to ensure compliance with Law 185/90 and ss.mm., and ensuring, where necessary, the enforceability of the sectoral prescriptions of the Prime Ministerial Decree.

Dual-use items

As a result of the attribution to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the competences in the field of international trade and internationalisation of the country system (See Decree-Law No. 104 of 21 September 2019, converted by Law 18 November 2019), the National Authority - UAMA performs the functions of Competent Authority responsible for the enforcement of the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 221 of 15 December 2017.

The National Authority - UAMA shall issue the authorisations provided for the export, transfer, brokering, technical assistance and transit of dual-use items; issue the authorisations for trade in goods subject to the anti-torture regulation; issue the authorisations, for the trade, direct and indirect, of products listed as a result of Union restrictive measures.

The Director of the National Authority - UAMA chairs the Inter-Ministerial Advisory Committee, which is called upon to express mandatory, but non-binding opinions on the export operations referred to in paragraph 11. In addition to MAECI and the Customs and Monopolies Agency, the following Ministries are represented on this Committee: the Interior, Defence, Economy and Finance, Economic Development, Cultural Heritage and Activities, and Health. The Head of the Dual-Use Materials Division acts as secretary.