Clifford Chance
Digital securities now a reality in Italy
23 March 2023
On 16 March 2023, the Italian government passed the DLT Decree (Decree-Law no. 25/2023) – a long-awaited new law setting out the framework for the issuance of securities in digital form by means of distributed ledger technology (DLT).
With the DLT Decree, Italy closes the gap with other EU jurisdictions where similar laws have been passed in recent years: as openly stated in the recitals, a key purpose of the DLT Decree is to ensure that Italian market participants do not find themselves at a competitive disadvantage relative to participants in other EU Member States.
The DLT Decree was enacted in the form of a decree-law issued by the government and will need to be converted into ordinary law by the parliament within 60 days of its publication in the official gazette.
