On 10 June 2026, Italy's Council of Ministers gave preliminary approval to two legislative decree schemes implementing Law No. 132 of 23 September 2025 (Legge 132/2025) — Italy's primary domestic law adapting the national legal order to Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (the AI Act).  More precisely, there are two schemes: the first addresses the powers of the national authorities and the use of artificial intelligence in education and training; the second covers the use of AI systems in policing, and civil and criminal liability. With these texts, the Italian Government begins to build the national institutional framework for AI regulation, in implementation of the AI Act.  The timeline is broad, because the subject matter itself is broad. In this first article, we focus on the first scheme, and specifically on its governance structure and penalty regime.

On 15 April 2026, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted Guidelines 1/2026 on the processing of personal data for scientific research purposes, which are now open for public consultation until 25 June 2026.  This is the most significant document on data protection for scientific research since 2018. The Guidelines systematically address key challenges that have significantly affected European and Italian scientific research.