Italy attaches criminal sanctions to smart-working health & safety gaps
Italy’s Law no. 34/2026 – the Annual SME Law 2025-2026 – came into force on 7 April 2026, amending Legislative Decree 81/2008 to extend statutory health and safety obligations to smart and remote working arrangements regardless of employer size. The sanctions framework has now been bedding in through May, and the criminal-liability exposure for non-compliance is real: imprisonment and fines, not administrative penalties.
Under the new regime, every Italian employer must issue a written annual health and safety notice to each employee performing work remotely and to the Workers’ Safety Representative. The notice has to describe both general workplace risks and remote-specific risks – display screen equipment, ergonomics, isolation effects – even if the work is being done from the employee’s home or a coworking space. The obligation applies to traditional employers and to micro-businesses equally.
Why this matters
Italy has just become the first major European jurisdiction to attach criminal sanctions to remote-work health and safety documentation gaps. For Italian employers, the practical implication is immediate: every smart-working agreement now needs a paired H&S risk notice on file, refreshed annually, with proof of delivery to both the worker and the Workers’ Safety Representative. For non-Italian employers with workers in Italy under cross-border telework arrangements, the position is more complex but the exposure is the same – the duty attaches to the work location, not the employer’s country of incorporation. Remote workers in Italy should expect to receive (or to ask their employers for) these annual notices going forward.
The Italian move sets a regulatory precedent worth watching. Spain, France, and Germany all have remote-work H&S frameworks but currently rely on administrative or civil sanctions rather than criminal liability. If the Italian model proves effective at driving compliance – or even just visible – it would not be surprising to see other Southern European jurisdictions follow. It also raises the bar for what counts as a “compliant” remote-working programme in the Italian market specifically, which has implications for Employer of Record providers and PEO services operating there.
What to watch
Early enforcement actions over the next 6-12 months will signal whether sanctions are being applied actively or whether the criminal-liability framing is primarily deterrent. Cross-border employers should also watch for guidance from the Italian Ministry of Labour on how the rules apply when neither the employer nor the contract is Italian but the worker is.