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Selling to Italy: EU Compliance for PrestaShop Merchants

By Compliance Editorial Team Updated July 2, 2026 4 min read

Italy applies the full set of EU consumer and product regulations, transposed largely through the Codice del Consumo, and adds Italian-language expectations and packaging EPR through CONAI. If you sell to Italian customers from a PrestaShop store, this hub sets out the authorities, the applicable EU laws and the national details that most often catch distance sellers out.

Overview

As with every EU market, selling to Italy involves an EU baseline plus national implementation. The EU baseline – product safety, price transparency, packaging, accessibility – is common across the bloc. Italy’s contribution is a consolidated consumer code, an active competition-and-consumer authority, Italian-language consumer information, and a long-established packaging EPR run through CONAI. None of this is exotic, but the details differ from France, Spain or Germany, so a copy-paste approach across markets tends to leave gaps.

Authorities

The headline authority is the AGCM (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato). It enforces consumer-protection law and unfair commercial practices, including misleading advertising and deceptive pricing, and can investigate and sanction traders whose practices harm consumers. For distance sellers, the AGCM is the body most likely to scrutinise how you present prices, discounts and pre-contractual information.

Product safety and market surveillance also involve national ministries and the customs authorities, which handle imports and can stop non-compliant goods at the border. Packaging EPR is administered through CONAI and its material-specific consortia rather than by a government regulator directly.

AGCM – consumer protection, unfair commercial practices and pricing transparency.
Ministry and customs – product safety enforcement and border controls on imports.
CONAI – the packaging EPR consortium coordinating collection and recycling contributions.

Applicable EU laws

The following EU regulations apply to your Italian sales, with Italian implementation where relevant.

GPSR – product safety, traceability and responsible-person obligations.
Omnibus – transposed in the Codice del Consumo, covering the 30-day prior-price rule and review authenticity.
PPWR – the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, interacting with CONAI’s system.
European Accessibility Act – accessibility duties for e-commerce and certain products.

National specifics

The Codice del Consumo

Italy consolidates its consumer law in the Codice del Consumo (the Consumer Code), which transposes the EU consumer directives including the Omnibus changes. It sets out the information consumers must receive before and after purchase, the right of withdrawal for distance contracts, guarantees, and the rules against unfair and misleading commercial practices. When you meet EU consumer-information duties, you are largely meeting the Codice del Consumo – but you should map your PrestaShop checkout and product pages against its specific requirements.

Language

Consumer information for the Italian market should be provided in Italian. This applies to essential product characteristics, safety and use information, and the mandatory contractual and pre-contractual details. An Italian-language storefront and Italian safety and instruction text on products is the dependable approach; relying on English or auto-translation for legally required information is risky.

Packaging EPR via CONAI

Italy’s packaging EPR has historically operated through CONAI (Consorzio Nazionale Imballaggi) and its material consortia. Businesses that place packaging on the Italian market generally join CONAI and pay the environmental contribution (contributo ambientale) based on packaging materials and quantities. There are also Italian labelling expectations for packaging to help consumers sort waste correctly. Confirm your obligations and thresholds with CONAI, as the packaging rules continue to evolve alongside the EU PPWR.

Penalties & enforcement

The AGCM can open investigations into unfair commercial practices and misleading pricing, order traders to stop, and impose sanctions. Product-safety non-compliance can lead to withdrawal or recall and border stops on imported goods. Packaging-contribution failures can result in back-payment and penalties within the CONAI framework. As elsewhere, the practical message is qualitative: Italy has an established enforcement apparatus, and pricing/advertising claims are a recurring focus, so accurate reference prices and honest discounts matter.

Merchant checklist

Provide consumer information, safety warnings and instructions in Italian.
Map your checkout and product pages against the Codice del Consumo information duties.
Apply the Omnibus 30-day prior-price rule and show honest reference prices on discounts.
Register with CONAI for packaging EPR and apply required packaging labelling.
Meet GPSR traceability and responsible-person requirements.
Keep records available in case the AGCM or customs requests them.

Next steps / related

National specifics change over time. Always confirm current Italian requirements with the AGCM and CONAI before relying on this summary.