Italy pushes facial‑recognition decree amid EU AI Act clash
The Italian government is accelerating a decree that would adapt national law to the EU AI Act by permitting police use of facial‑recognition technology. The draft allows real‑time identification and post‑event searches in limited cases – serious public danger, missing‑person investigations and terrorism – while requiring a motivated police request and judicial authorisation. Collected biometric data may be retained for up to seven days unless needed for an investigation, and access logs must be kept immutable for five years.
Opposition parties (PD and M5S) have denounced the measure as a “dangerous blitz” against civil liberties. The Garante Privacy agency has warned that the proposal is not fully consistent with the AI Act and has called for stricter safeguards. The European Commission reiterated that facial‑recognition in publicly accessible spaces is prohibited by the AI Act.
Parliamentary scrutiny intensified after opposition deputies protested, causing the vote in the Chamber’s EU‑Affairs Committee to be postponed. The Senate’s EU‑Policies Commission has already given a favourable opinion, while the text continues to be examined by the Chamber’s Constitutional and Justice commissions.
Entities: Antonio Tajani · Chamber EU‑Affairs Committee · Democratic Party (PD) · Elena Fattori · European Commission · European Union (EU AI Act) · Filippo Sensi · Five Star Movement (M5S) · Garante Privacy · Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante Privacy) · Italian Government · Italy
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [● 8 SOURCES] Opposition parties (PD and M5S) have described the decree as a “dangerous blitz” threatening civil liberties. (all)
- [● 7 SOURCES] Access logs for the facial‑recognition system must be kept immutable for five years. (all)
- [● 5 SOURCES] Real‑time facial recognition requires a motivated police request and prior judicial authorization for up to fifteen days. (decree provision)
- [● 4 SOURCES] Biometric data collected must be automatically deleted after seven days if not needed for investigations. (article)
- [● 3 SOURCES] Luca Ciriani, undersecretary of the Interior, defended the decree as respecting the AI Act and constitutional guarantees. (supporting_article_ids)
- [DISPUTED] The decree would allow police to use facial‑recognition only for serious public danger, missing‑person cases, or terrorism. (all)
- [● 6 SOURCES] The Italian government is accelerating a decree to implement the EU AI Act concerning facial recognition. (all)
- [● 7 SOURCES] The Garante Privacy says the decree is not coherent with the AI Act and calls for stricter safeguards. (all)
- [● 5 SOURCES] Collected biometric data must be kept for seven days unless needed for investigations. (all)
- [● 5 SOURCES] The Italian government is accelerating a decree to implement the EU AI Act for facial recognition. (supporting_article_ids)
- [DISPUTED] The decree permits police to collect biometric data in public places such as squares, stadiums and protest venues. (draft decree text)
- [● 5 SOURCES] Biometric data collected must be automatically deleted after seven days unless needed for investigations. (multiple)