The short version

• Space law in Italy rests on Law no. 89 of 13 June 2025 on the space economy, in force since 25 June 2025. Space activities on Italian territory, and by Italian operators anywhere, need an authorisation from the Prime Minister or the delegated political authority for space, with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) doing the technical review.
• Authorised operators must insure their liability for €100 million per claim. Implementing decrees may set up to three lower risk bands, but never below €50 million, or €20 million for research-only operators and innovative start-ups. Liability for damage on the ground and to aircraft is strict and capped at the insured sum.
• Unauthorised space activity is a crime punishable by three to six years’ imprisonment and a fine of €20,000 to €50,000. Authorisation can be refused on security grounds, including links with States that do not respect democracy or the rule of law.
• An amendment in force since August 2026 exempts activities under contracts signed before the implementing decrees take effect, and in any case no later than 31 December 2026, from the authorisation requirement, but not from the insurance and liability rules. That transitional window closes in seven weeks.

Italy is a founding member of ESA and one of the eight original signatories of the Artemis Accords, yet until last year it had no general law on who may launch or operate a space object. Law no. 89 of 2025 filled that gap with one of Europe’s most demanding regimes.

This guide explains space law in Italy as of 11 November 2026, based on the Law of 13 June 2025, no. 89 as amended. Translations are mine and article numbers are from the Law.

How the Law was passed

According to the Chamber of Deputies’ dossier, the Government’s bill was presented on 10 September 2024 and finally approved by the Senate without changes on 11 June 2025. It was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 144 of 24 June 2025 and entered into force the following day (Article 31).

What counts as space activity

Article 2 gives one of the widest definitions in any national space law: launch, in-orbit operation and re-entry, deorbiting and removal, in-orbit servicing, space stations, manufacturing in space, the exploration and use of space resources “in accordance with legal instruments adopted at international level”, flights of living beings, stratospheric platforms and sounding rockets.

Under Article 3 the authorisation rules apply to operators of any nationality acting on Italian territory, which includes Italian ships, aircraft and space stations, and to Italian operators acting abroad. Article 28 excludes the Ministry of Defence and the intelligence agencies.

Who authorises, and how long it takes

The deciding authority is political. Article 2 names the President of the Council of Ministers or the delegated authority for space policy as the Responsible Authority. Applications go through the Italian Space Agency, which has 60 days to check the technical and subjective requirements and can inspect the applicant’s facilities (Article 7).

If ASI’s checks are positive, the file goes to the Responsible Authority, the Ministry of Defence and the interministerial committee on space policy (COMINT), which can consult the intelligence agencies and the National Cybersecurity Agency. Where security concerns arise, or a member administration asks, the decision goes to the Council of Ministers. The overall deadline is 120 days from the application.

One authorisation can cover several activities, and the launch of satellites in the same constellation gets a single authorisation (Article 4). An authorisation granted by a foreign State can replace the Italian one where a treaty recognises it, or can be recognised on application if the foreign rules are equivalent, for a fee of no more than half the normal contribution and within 60 days.

The requirements

Article 5 sets three technical principles: safety in every phase, including an assessment of light pollution and radio interference and debris mitigation with a safe and, where possible, controlled re-entry; resilience against cyber, physical and interference risks, including encryption, backups, patching and incident management; and environmental sustainability across the whole life cycle of the space object.

Article 6 adds the integrity standards of the public procurement code, technical capacity, financial soundness proportionate to the risk (with allowances for start-ups and SMEs), the Article 21 insurance and access to a collision avoidance service.

The security filter

Under Article 7(8), authorisation must be refused if the activity could harm defence, national security, international relations, critical infrastructure or national cybersecurity; if the operator has links with States or territories that, taking account of the official positions of the EU, do not conform to the principles of democracy or the rule of law, threaten international peace or support criminal or terrorist organisations; or if its purpose conflicts with a fundamental interest of the Republic.

The Responsible Authority can also modify or revoke an authorisation to protect national security or avert imminent danger, without prior notice (Article 8). In exceptional urgency it can transfer control of the activity to another operator or a public body (Article 9). Transfers of an authorised activity, or of ownership or control of a space object, need prior authorisation (Article 10). Like Poland’s regime, which we covered in our guide to space law in Poland, Italy treats space licensing as partly a national security tool.

Liability and the €100 million insurance rule

Under Article 18 the operator is liable for damage caused by its space activities. For damage to third parties on the surface of the Earth and to aircraft in flight, liability is strict: the operator escapes only by proving that the damage was caused exclusively and intentionally by an outside third party and could not have been prevented, or exclusively by the victim. That mirrors the absolute liability of launching States under the Liability Convention.

An authorised operator’s liability for that damage is capped at the insured sum in Article 21. The cap is lost if the operator is unauthorised, breached its authorisation, acted wilfully or with gross negligence, or failed to keep the required insurance. Damage to people who took part in the activity is governed by the Civil Code. Where Italy pays another State under the Convention, it must seek recourse from the operator within 24 months of paying, subject to the same cap (Article 19).

Article 21 requires insurance or another financial guarantee of €100 million per claim. Implementing decrees may create up to three lower risk bands, based on the size of the activity, the operator’s track record, the orbit and the duration and type of mission, but the minimum is €50 million, or €20 million for operators pursuing purely research purposes or qualifying as innovative start-ups. Victims have a direct action against the insurer, and insurers may cover the risk alone, through co-insurance or through a consortium approved by the insurance supervisor IVASS.

France guarantees operators above a ceiling of €50 million to €70 million, as our guide to space law in France explains. Italy offers no State guarantee and instead caps the operator’s liability at the insured sum. For a small satellite operator, €20 million of third-party cover is a material cost, and our space insurance explainer describes how that market prices it.

Registration, supervision and penalties

Italian space objects are entered in the National Register created by Law no. 153 of 2005, which ratified the Registration Convention, under a code of “ITA” followed by a letter and three digits. ASI keeps the Register, which is public and online, and a complementary register for foreign-registered objects acquired in orbit by Italian operators (Articles 15 to 17). Under Article 30, space objects registered in Italy are treated as Italian territory for criminal law purposes.

Operators must give ASI 30 days’ notice of each operation and report every six months (Article 11). Obstructing ASI’s supervision can bring a fine of €150,000 to €500,000. Carrying out space activity without authorisation, or after it expires, is punishable by three to six years’ imprisonment and a fine of €20,000 to €50,000 (Article 12).

The industrial policy chapter

Title V creates a National Plan for the Space Economy, a Space Economy Fund at the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy with €35 million for 2025, and a national reserve of satellite transmission capacity for government use in emergencies, using only satellites operated by entities from the EU or NATO (Article 25). In public procurement, Article 27 requires tenders not split into lots to reserve at least 10% of the contract value for innovative start-ups and SMEs through mandatory subcontracting, and provides a 40% advance payment.

The transitional window that ends on 31 December 2026

The detailed rules on technical standards, fees, application documents, insurance bands and Earth observation data are left to decrees of the President of the Council of Ministers under Article 13. I have not found those decrees published. To prevent a licensing freeze, Article 11 of Decree-Law no. 144 of 7 August 2026, converted by Law no. 174 of 5 October 2026, added three paragraphs to Article 29.

Paragraph 2-bis exempts from the authorisation requirement space activities carried out under contracts signed after the Law entered into force and before the decrees take effect, and in any case no later than 31 December 2026. The insurance obligation and the liability rules still apply. Paragraph 2-ter says the decrees on technical requirements, fees and documents enter into force 90 days after publication. Paragraph 2-quater excludes activities under contracts signed before 25 June 2025 that had already started to produce effects.

On my reading, a contract signed in January 2027 gets no exemption even if the decrees are still missing, leaving operators with an authorisation duty and no detailed rules to apply under.

What I would watch

The first is the Article 13 decrees. Their content on fees, insurance bands and application documents will decide how usable the regime is, and with the 90-day delay in paragraph 2-ter, anything published after early October 2026 cannot take effect before the transitional window closes.

The second is whether the Government extends the 31 December 2026 date. Without an extension or the decrees, the criminal penalty for unauthorised activity makes this more than a technical problem.

The third is the fit with the EU Space Act. Many of Italy’s choices, such as resilience requirements, life-cycle environmental assessment and recognition of equivalent foreign authorisations, track the Commission’s proposal, but our report on the Irish Presidency compromise text shows how much is still open. The political authorisation and the security veto are the parts I expect Italy to defend hardest.