On 15 July 2026 the European Commission sent letters of formal notice to twenty-two Member States for failing to communicate the complete transposition of Council Directive (EU) 2024/1499 and Directive (EU) 2024/1500 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which lay down minimum requirements for equality bodies; the transposition deadline had expired on 19 June 2026 (European Commission). Italy is not on the list: Legislative Decree No 91 of 7 May 2026, published in Official Gazette No 118 of 23 May 2026 and in force since 7 June 2026, implements both directives and establishes, from 1 January 2027, the “Organismo per la parità”, Italy’s new equality body (Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale)). The Italian transposition did not merely adapt existing figures: it established a new authority.
The 2024 directives: independence, resources and powers as minimum requirements
The two directives on equality bodies (organismi per la parità in the Italian version) have an almost identical structure and different scopes: Directive 2024/1500 concerns equality between women and men in employment; Directive 2024/1499 covers race or ethnic origin, the other grounds of discrimination in employment and equality between women and men in social security and in access to goods and services (EUR-Lex). In Directive 2024/1500, Article 3 requires equality bodies to be “independent and free from external influence” and not to seek or take instructions from the government; Article 4 requires them to be provided with “the human, technical and financial resources necessary”; Articles 6 to 10 govern assistance to victims, inquiries, opinions or decisions and litigation (EUR-Lex). Article 9 leaves Member States a significant choice: to determine whether the assessment of the case is to be done by means of “non-binding opinions or binding decisions”.
The Italian structure: an independent authority with a five-member board
Article 2 of the Decree establishes the Organismo “as an independent authority” (our translation), with regulatory, organisational, accounting and financial autonomy; the Organismo “takes over from the national equality adviser” (the consigliera or consigliere nazionale di parità) and, from 1 January 2027, the legal relationships of the Office for the Promotion of Equal Treatment and the Removal of Discrimination based on Race or Ethnic Origin, provided for by Article 7 of Legislative Decree No 215 of 9 July 2003, which is repealed from the same date (Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale)). Two safeguards that have so far been separate, one for gender in employment and one for ethnic origin, merge into a single body. The regional, metropolitan-city and wide-area equality advisers remain in place and operate in coordination with the Organismo.
The board consists of the president and four members, two with responsibility for Directive 2024/1499 and two for Directive 2024/1500, appointed by agreement between the Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate for seven years, without possibility of renewal; on first application the appointments must be made by 31 December 2026, with the board taking office from 1 January 2027, and until then the existing Office and the national equality adviser continue to operate. By 30 November 2026 a decree of the President of the Council of Ministers is to identify the seat of the Office of the Organismo, which adopts its own rules of organisation within ninety days of taking office. Article 6 establishes at the Ministry of Economy and Finance a fund of EUR 7 600 001 a year from 2027, to which EUR 2 035 357 a year is added as a contribution to its operating costs.
Protection of victims: free assistance and opinions usable in court
For discrimination on grounds of sex in employment and occupation, Article 4(2) of the Decree refers to the new Article 35-bis of the Code of Equal Opportunities between Men and Women, which allows complaints to be lodged with the Organismo “either in person, orally, or in writing, including by electronic means”. The Organismo “offers free assistance to victims” and, after a preliminary inquiry, decides “by reasoned opinion” whether to follow up the complaint or to dismiss it. Paragraph 4 contains the provision with the greatest practical impact: the opinions “may be produced in court and are assessed as evidence by the judge” pursuant to Article 116 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The opinion does not bind the judge, but it enters the proceedings as evidence.
For both directives the Organismo offers alternative dispute resolution, whose activation interrupts limitation periods; the new Article 39-bis of the Code specifies that mediation under Legislative Decree No 28 of 4 March 2010 “is free of charge for the claimant”. The Organismo also has standing to bring proceedings under a mandate, in the name and on behalf of the victim, to submit observations and to take part in proceedings, including as civil party.
Employers and public administrations: documentary inquiries and conciliation
For employers, the investigative powers come first: the Organismo carries out “documentary checks”, with the power to require bodies, persons and undertakings to provide information and produce documents; within the scope of Directive 2024/1500 it detects gender imbalances and establishes infringements through the National Labour Inspectorate (Ispettorato nazionale del lavoro) and the territorial inspectorates. Where the infringement is attributable to a public administration, the attempt at conciliation is not optional. Article 39-bis provides that the Organismo is “required to promote an attempt at conciliation” pursuant to Article 410 of the Code of Civil Procedure, in the course of which the administration may be asked for a binding plan to remove the discrimination, to be implemented within a period not exceeding one hundred and twenty days.
Alongside these powers there are prevention functions, including recommendations on the data to be collected, addressed also to undertakings, and the promotion “of UNI reference practices” (UNI being the Italian standardisation body). In our view, the relationship with pay transparency still needs to be coordinated: Legislative Decree No 96 of 7 May 2026, in Article 3(1)(n), defines the “equality body” as the equality advisers provided for by the Code (Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale)), while Legislative Decree 91/2026 refers every reference to the national equality adviser to the Organismo, “where compatible”.
Automated systems and artificial intelligence: European guidance and the text of the Decree
Recital 21 of Directive 2024/1500, in terms similar to recital 22 of Directive 2024/1499, states that “devoting attention to the opportunities and risks presented by the use of automated systems, including artificial intelligence, is key”, and that resources should enable equality bodies to use such systems and “to assess such systems as regards their compliance with non-discrimination rules”. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1197 of 5 June 2026 translates this guidance into indicators: among the items on resources are “Automated systems” (R4_4) and “Assessment of automated systems” (R4_18), and the notion of automated system is clarified by reference to the definition of AI system in Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the AI Act (EUR-Lex).
Legislative Decree 91/2026 does not mention automated systems, algorithms or artificial intelligence; the only link, an indirect one, is the obligation to draw up the annual report “taking into account the common indicators developed by the European Commission”. On the AI Act side, Article 77 grants powers of access to national authorities protecting fundamental rights, “including the right to non-discrimination”, and entrusts Member States with identifying those authorities and publishing a list of them (European Commission); in the text rewritten by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, the Digital Omnibus on AI, those authorities may request information and documentation created or maintained by the market surveillance authority, which grants access “including by requesting such information or documentation from the provider or the deployer, where necessary and without undue delay” (EUR-Lex). Legislative Decree 91/2026 does not refer to Article 77 and does not say whether the Organismo will be included in that list; nor does Legislative Decree No 179 of 7 October 2026, in force from 23 October 2026, whose Article 7(5) provides for forms of coordination between the market surveillance authorities and “the authorities protecting fundamental rights, notified pursuant to Article 77 of the AI Regulation” (Official Gazette (Gazzetta Ufficiale)). As Nicola Fabiano observes, the coordination designed by the Decree relies largely on agreements yet to be concluded and regulations yet to be adopted (NicFab). In our view the Organismo has the functional characteristics, but its inclusion depends on a choice that neither decree makes. On the Digital Omnibus on AI and on algorithmic discrimination we refer to what we have already published.
Critical aspects: non-binding opinions, resources and the link with the AI Act
The first aspect concerns effectiveness. The legislature opted for non-binding opinions, and in that case Article 9(2) of Directive 2024/1500 requires “appropriate mechanisms for the follow-up to non-binding opinions, such as feedback obligations”. The Decree entrusts follow-up to the publication of summaries and to evidential value in court, without expressly providing for a feedback obligation on the addressee; in our view the soundness of the Italian choice will be measured on this point.
The second aspect is organisational: the board is divided equally between the two directives, but the Office consists of three services, two for Directive 2024/1499 and one for Directive 2024/1500, recourse to up to ten experts is provided for the former only, and territorial coordination must take place without new or additional burdens on public finances. The third aspect is technological: the directives indicate in their recitals that resources should enable automated systems to be assessed, the Decree is silent, and indicators R4_4 and R4_18 will make any gap visible in the data transmitted to the Commission. Finally, the letters of 15 July concern the failure to communicate complete transposition: Italy’s absence from the list does not amount to a judgment on the conformity of the Decree.
Conclusions
Legislative Decree 91/2026 has given Italy an independent authority with powers of inquiry, assistance and litigation, but the new structure depends on deadlines that are still open: the seat by 30 November, the appointments by 31 December, the rules of organisation within ninety days of taking office. Employers would do well to treat every opinion of the Organismo as a potential piece of litigation evidence and to prepare ex ante orderly documentation of their selection, evaluation and pay criteria, including those applied by automated tools. The legislature still has to decide whether to include the Organismo among the authorities under Article 77 of the AI Act. In our view, having opted for non-binding opinions, the effectiveness of the Organismo will depend on the quality of the inquiries behind them.
Author: Valentina Grazia Sapuppo
