The Italy Senate has cleared a landmark reform framework that will reshape the rules governing 15 regulated professions, affecting roughly 700,000 professionals across the country. Passed on August 3, 2026 with 81 votes in favor and 50 abstentions, the enabling law (DDL 1663) now moves to the Chamber of Deputies for final approval before the government can begin drafting the actual implementation decrees.
Why This Matters:
• Timeline: The government will have 24 months from the entry into force (entrata in vigore) of the enabling law to issue the implementing decrees, with the goal of completing the entire process before the current legislature ends.
• Scope: Architects, engineers, journalists, social workers, agronomists, geologists, and 10 other professions will see changes to access requirements, continuing education, liability rules, and fee structures.
• Exclusions: Lawyers, accountants, and healthcare professionals are not included in this round—they follow separate reform tracks.
• AI mandate: Mandatory continuing education credits on digital skills and artificial intelligence will be required for all covered professions.
What This Means for Professionals and Clients
If you work in one of the 15 professions or regularly hire these specialists, expect concrete changes to how services are priced, how liability is managed, and what qualifications practitioners must maintain.
Liability caps are being tightened. For work performed for private clients, consumers, and small businesses covered by the equo compenso (fair compensation) law, the statute of limitations on professional liability claims will drop from ten years to five years. Public administrations, banks, insurers, and large firms governed by Law 49/2023 will still have the full decade to pursue claims. This two-tier system aims to reduce insurance costs for smaller practices while preserving accountability for high-stakes public contracts.
Fee structures will remain negotiable but anchored. While professionals and clients can still agree on compensation freely, rates must be "proportionate to the quantity, quality, and characteristics of the service" and respect equo compenso principles. The supervising ministry will issue or update reference parameters based on proposals from each profession's national council. In practice, this means guideline fee schedules will exist, but they won't be rigid tariffs.
Access pathways are being streamlined. The reform directs the government to revise internship (tirocinio) regulations, potentially introducing expense reimbursements and stipends to make entry more affordable. State exams will remain the gateway where currently required, but the decree process will clarify exactly which activities are reserved exclusively to registered professionals and which are open to anyone—though only registered members may use the professional title.
The AI and Generational Turnover Mandate
Labor Minister Marina Calderone emphasized two core drivers behind the reform: the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence on professional services and the urgent need for generational renewal in a sector where aging leadership has sometimes blocked younger entrants.
Artificial intelligence will be woven into mandatory training. Each profession's continuing education program must now include modules on the operational use of AI tools, ethics and professional conduct in AI-assisted work, risk and liability assessment, and data security in AI systems. The reform explicitly permits AI to support professional judgment but forbids it from replacing the human intellectual contribution. National councils will update their codes of ethics to reflect these boundaries.
Confprofessioni, the umbrella group representing Italy's professional orders, has called for universities to overhaul degree programs to embed AI and cross-cutting digital competencies from the outset, proposing joint curriculum design between faculties and professional associations. For healthcare professions—though governed separately—AI training is being integrated into the mandatory Educazione Continua in Medicina (ECM) program, aligning with the EU's AI Act.
Generational turnover gets institutional backing. The reform instructs the government to revise governance rules for the orders themselves, introducing term limits, gender representation quotas on electoral lists, and weighted voting systems that give smaller territorial councils a stronger voice in national elections. The goal is to break the grip of incumbents and make professional bodies more welcoming to young practitioners and women, who remain underrepresented in many fields.
The 15 Professions in Scope
The reform covers a wide span of technical, creative, and advisory roles:
Agrotecnici (agricultural technicians and degree-holders)
Architects (including urban planners, landscape architects, conservation specialists, junior architects)
Social workers (assistenti sociali and specialized social workers)
Actuaries (attuari and junior actuaries)
Labor consultants (consulenti del lavoro)
Industrial property consultants
Agronomists and foresters (including zootechnicians and agricultural biotechnologists)
Geologists (and junior geologists)
Geometri (surveyors)
Journalists
Engineers
Agricultural surveyors (periti agrari)
Industrial surveyors (periti industriali)
Customs agents (spedizionieri doganali)
Food technologists
Together, these groups represent a significant slice of Italy's knowledge economy, spanning construction, agriculture, media, logistics, and environmental services.
Parliamentary Path and Implementation Roadmap
The Senate vote saw no opposition—all "no" votes were zero—but most opposition parties abstained, a signal that while they declined to endorse the bill, they did not find it fundamentally objectionable. Minister Calderone interpreted the abstentions as tacit acknowledgment that the reform's principles are sound.
Senator Rastrelli, the bill's rapporteur, shepherded the text through the upper chamber. Calderone praised his work and expressed confidence that the Chamber of Deputies will move quickly, allowing the government to begin drafting the implementation decrees "within a few months" and complete the process before the legislature expires.
Once the enabling law receives royal assent, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies will coordinate with each profession's national council to draft the detailed regulations. The 24-month window begins from entry into force and is intentionally tight, designed to prevent the reform from stalling in bureaucratic limbo.
Why Italy Is Reforming Now
Italy's professional orders—collegial bodies with public-law status—serve dual roles: they self-regulate their members and protect the public by enforcing ethical standards and competence requirements. Many underlying statutes, however, date back decades and no longer fit the realities of digital services, cross-border practice, and platform-mediated work.
Calderone framed the reform as future-proofing. "Regulated professions are a guarantee of efficiency, quality, protection, and ethical oversight," she said after the Senate vote. "This reform recognizes that professions are undergoing profound transformations driven by artificial intelligence and ensures generational renewal allows young people—especially young women—to enter the professional circuit."
The minister's emphasis on women and youth reflects frustration that restrictive access rules and entrenched networks have kept the professions older and more male-dominated than the workforce at large. By mandating transparency, internship support, and governance reform, the government signals that professional orders are open to new faces and talent.
What Happens Next
Expect the Chamber of Deputies to take up the bill in the fall. Barring major amendments, final passage is likely by year-end. After that, watch for consultations between the Labor Ministry and each profession's national council as decree drafting begins.
For practitioners, the immediate action item is to monitor your order's communications about continuing education requirements—especially the AI modules—and proposed changes to governance or fee structures. For clients and businesses, the five-year liability cap and updated fee parameters may shift the risk calculus when contracting for professional services.
The reform is a bet that Italy's professional class can modernize without losing the quality and ethical standards that have long been its hallmark. Whether the orders embrace the change or resist it will become clear as the decrees take shape over the next two years.
