Italy accessibility law: Stanca + DL 82/2022 explained

Who has to comply

Public-sector sites since 2004; private-sector consumer services from 28 June 2025 under DL 82/2022 (the EAA transposition).

Italy is a large southern-European market and was the first EU country ever to legislate web accessibility (Legge Stanca, 2004), so the regulatory culture is mature. A foreign seller reaching Italian consumers is covered under DL 82/2022 on the country-of-consumption basis regardless of where the business is established. AgID's power to publicly list non-compliant operators is a real reputational lever for cross-border sellers, since being named on a state agency's non-conformance list is visible to Italian buyers and partners.

What the law actually requires

The technical baseline is WCAG 2.1 Level AA via EN 301 549. EN 301 549 references WCAG 2.1 Level AA in full and adds a few requirements specific to mobile apps and documents. Beyond the technical bar, Italy requires the following operational items, which auditors check first because they are simple to verify:

• EN 301 549 / WCAG 2.1 AA conformance

• Accessibility statement on every covered service

• AgID-prescribed reporting form

• Annual self-assessment

Penalties and how enforcement actually works

Up to 5% of annual turnover; AgID can mandate corrective action and publicly list non-compliant operators.

Enforcement is centralised under AgID, the national digital agency, which already administers the public-sector regime and prescribes a specific reporting form and statement template. AgID's approach is documentation- and template-driven: it expects covered operators to file the prescribed accessibility reporting and self-assessment, and it can mandate corrective action and publish the names of operators that fail to comply. This makes Italy more form-centric than most member states, so a technically decent site can still be flagged for using the wrong statement format.

Public-sector obligations

Italy also has a separate public-sector law: Legge Stanca 4/2004 — public-sector and PA-funded private sites. It predates the EAA and remains in force for government and public-funded sites. Public bodies must publish a conformance statement and re-audit periodically.

Practical first steps for a Italy site

If you are starting now and want to land before enforcement, run an automated audit, fix the high-impact issues (contrast, labels, keyboard, focus), publish an accessibility statement, and set up a feedback inbox. That sequence covers 80% of what auditors look for in a first sweep.

• Run a baseline scan to know your current score

• Fix critical and serious issues in priority order — these are the ones cited in complaints

• Publish a public accessibility statement on a stable URL (Italy regulators expect this discoverable)

• Add a feedback channel and answer within the country-specified window

• Re-scan after every major release; track regressions