"Salvini Decree" 2018: what is it and what are the new provisions? 

The so called "Salvini Decree" on Immigration and Safety was unanimously approved by the Italian Council of Ministers and now is Law.

The "Safety Decree" by the Minister of Interior consists of 40 articles divided in 4 titles, and introduces many new provisions, above all in matters of immigration.

"Salvini Decree": all the news concerning Safety and Immigration 

Below you will find all 2018 news relating to the "Salvini Decree":

-           Amendments to the Italian Consolidated Law on legal expenses. Article 14 of "Salvini Decree" introduces article 130b in the Consolidated Law, providing that for civil proceedings the Italian State shall not pay any defence lawyer's fee when the appeal is dismissed as inadmissible or is barred from further proceedings;

-           Amendments to the right to political asylum and to the procedure of expulsion of foreigners;

-           Extension of the offences causing the withdrawal of a refugee resident permit to sexual violence, drug dealing, and violence towards a representative of public authorities;

-           Abrogation of humanitarian residence permits and introduction of new temporary residence permits for humanitarian needs;

-           Reform of the rules on disputes in matters of refusal or withdrawal of temporary residence permits, conferring jurisdiction on the Court, as a unified bench, where a specialised Immigration Department is based. Appeals will take the form of a summary proceeding, and have to be submitted within 30 days of the notification of the decision of the Court (within 60 days, if the defendant resides abroad);

-           Extension from 90 to 180 days of the stay in immigration centres and stricter rules on identification of migrants;

-           Stricter rules on matters of citizenship and on applications for Italian citizenship. Introduction of a deadline of 48 months starting from the date of application for the completion of a proceeding subsequent to the application for citizenship. Withdrawal of citizenship for persons suspected of conspiring against Italy.

Residence permits will be of no advantage for citizenship registration of resident people.

"Salvini Decree": squatting, fight against terrorism, and new provisions relating to police forces in Italy 

Finally, it should be noted that the "Salvini Decree" also deals with the issues of squatting, asset confiscation from the Mafia, introduction of electric stun weapons in police equipment and staff treatment in civilian administration, as well as of fight to terrorism (clampdown on car and van rental with the introduction of the obligation for car-rental agencies of communicating to the police Data Processing Centre all personal data of the person renting a car or a van) and illicit public sector contracts.

It is also worth mentioning the new right of municipal police officers, in centres with more than one hundred thousand people, to access the Data Processing Centre in order to check if apprehended person were already wanted or if an alert had been already issued on them. Stricter penalties are imposed also in matters of denial of access to some areas of a city ("Urban DASPO"). Urban Daspo also applies to persons suspected of terrorism.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.