Raffaele Giarda’s arrival further strengthens the Firm’s Technology, Media, Entertainment and Telecommunications (TMT) practice, which will benefit from his extensive experience gained over more than three decades in sector-specific regulation, including matters relating to foreign direct investments in Italy (FDI).

The appointment of Raffaele Giarda is part of ADVANT Nctm’s ongoing strategy to further enhance its professional capabilities in support of clients, reinforcing the Firm’s TMT expertise at a time when innovation and digital transformation represent key drivers for businesses and their growth.

“Raffaele Giarda’s arrival is a source of great pride for us. He is a highly regarded professional with a strong reputation built over decades of experience, including internationally, in the TMT sector and in advising on complex transactions. His experience further enhances our offering in this area while strengthening the Firm’s ability to support clients in a rapidly evolving and constantly changing market environment”, commented Paolo Montironi, Senior Partner at ADVANT Nctm.

“Joining ADVANT Nctm represents a new and important stage in my professional journey, within a Firm that combines a European dimension, the quality of its professionals and a clear vision for growth. I bring with me extensive experience in the TMT sector, with the aim of contributing from the outset to the further strengthening of the Firm’s position in its market”, said Raffaele Giarda.

Following Raffaele Giarda’s arrival, ADVANT Nctm’s total number of Partners reaches 88.

The new issue of Energy Law Italy Outlook is now available online. Prepared by ADVANT Nctm's Energy & Infrastructures Team, the newsletter explores the most significant legislative and regulatory developments shaping Italy's energy sector.

Read here

Vessels sailing to the EU from outside the bloc must buy carbon allowances covering half their emissions for the journey. But officials are concerned that ships from far-flung ports are cutting bills without reducing emissions by stopping at ports near EU member countries, and then counting only the shorter final leg into the bloc.

Brussels plans to tighten the rules by including traffic to North African, Middle Eastern and potentially UK ports in its emissions trading system. The rules currently bring in about €7bn-€9bn each year, according to ECSA, the European shipowners’ association […]

[…] “A vessel is paying roughly €300,000 per call so what liners decided to do is not to come directly to the European port but to stop at the nearby non-EU ports to benefit from the 50 per cent ETS rules,” said Alberto Rossi, secretary-general of the Italian shipowners’ association Assarmatori. 

Another issue was vessels bringing non-EU goods to EU ports for transshipment — where they are moved to different ships before being taken on to their final destination outside the bloc.

Rossi said that transshipment services were also moving to north Africa to evade ETS costs, impacting jobs and potentially giving EU countries less control over their supply chains.

Read the full article here

In the article, which builds on the European Commission's latest Annual Report on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2021/821, Ornella highlights that trade compliance programmes should be designed as dynamic, risk-based systems that are continuously updated and tested, rather than treated as a mere box-ticking exercise.

She also examines the increasing enforcement activity across the European Union, particularly following the implementation of Directive (EU) 2024/1226, and discusses the practical implications for companies operating in international markets.

Click here to read the full article

AI and new technologies: from experimentation to accountability

Unsurprisingly, given current developments, the most prominent chapter of the Report is the one on artificial intelligence (AI). The Garante continued to pursue an approach that is not solely enforcement-driven but aimed at addressing risks to data subjects at an early stage: from oversight of deepfakes to enforcement measures concerning deepnude applications and the non-consensual generation of intimate images. From this perspective, the processing of personal data has become the principal point of tension between computational power, model opacity and the protection of individual dignity.

The same approach is reflected in initiatives concerning web scrapingfor the training of generative AI systems and in the favourable opinion on the ministerial guidelines for the introduction of AI in schools. The point is not to halt innovation, but to ensure it is properly governed through a valid legal basis, meaningful transparency, data minimisation, impact assessments where necessary, and documented governance throughout the entire lifecycle of the system. For businesses and public administrations, AI cannot be regarded purely as a technological project: it is, in every respect, also a regulatory issue.

Digital healthcare, public administration and biometrics: innovating, but by design

In the healthcare sector, the Authority issued 28 opinions on draft decrees and regulations, reiterating that the digitalisation of care pathways must incorporate privacy by design, data minimisation, lawfulness, transparency and accountability from the outset. The Report highlights recurring issues in the management of health records, patient identification procedures, the disclosure of health data and the prevention of unauthorised access to information systems. Digital healthcare therefore remains one of the main testing grounds for compliance: the more useful data is for patient care, the more it must be protected through genuinely effective technical, organisational and procedural measures.

The use of biometrics likewise confirms the central importance of the principle of proportionality. The FaceBoarding case at Milan Linate Airport, concerning the centralised storage of passengers’ biometric data, illustrates that the efficiency of the service cannot override the legal assessment of risk, the necessity of the processing and less intrusive alternatives. In a context of increasing automation of identification processes, biometric data remains a high-risk category and requires heightened caution.

On the public sector front, the Report also confirms the Garante’s advisory role in the digitalisation of public administration, including work on the IT-Wallet system. The message is clear: digital identity, interoperability and administrative simplification can only work if the data-processing architecture is designed in a manner consistent with the European framework and with the principle of effective protection of data subjects.

Children and work: where technology meets vulnerability

The protection of children remains a cross-cutting priority. The Garante continued to focus its activities on age verification systems, the phenomenon of sharenting and awareness-raising campaigns, including “Your privacy is worth more than a like”. Children’s personal data should never be regarded as “insignificant”: it is information that may accompany an individual over time, affecting their digital identity, reputation and freedom of self-determination.

In the employment context, instead, the Report confirms the focus on disproportionate processing activities and excessive forms of monitoring. The prohibition imposed on Amazon Italia Logistica in relation to the data of over 1,800 workers is part of a well-established approach: digital tools, monitoring systems, video surveillance and AI solutions applied to the organisation of work must comply with the principles of necessity, proportionality and transparency. Productivity alone does not justify pervasive surveillance.

Telemarketing, news reporting and inspections: traditional challenges become more sophisticated

Alongside the new frontiers of AI, the Report points out that the traditional challenges have by no means disappeared. The fight against aggressive telemarketing, particularly in the energy sector, continues to require significant action, not least because data collection and commercial profiling techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Similarly, in balancing privacy and the right to report news, the Authority reaffirmed the principle of the essential nature of information, criticising excessive sensationalism and the publication of unnecessary details that undermine individual dignity.

Inspection activities confirmed the pervasiveness of data processing and the central importance of controls in high-impact sectors, such as SPID, facial recognition, video surveillance, scientific research, data breaches and public databases. Perhaps the most significant takeaway is that the Garante describes a landscape in which poor practices do not disappear but become layered and amplified by increasingly sophisticated technologies. For this reason, compliance must be continuous, verifiable and underpinned by concrete organisational safeguards.

Key figures for 2025

• 807 decisions adopted by the Board.
• 4,288 complaints and 145,846reports examined.
• 65 opinions on legislative and administrative acts and data protection impact assessments.
• 506 corrective and sanctioning measures.
• More than €37 million in fines collected.
• 2,415 data breach notifications, an increase compared with 2024.
• 854 reports concerning the dissemination or threatened dissemination of intimate material, primarily involving cases of sextortion.
• 130 inspections carried out, including with the support of the Guardia di Finanza.
• More than 13,500 requests for information from members of the public and organisations handled.

From data to trust: the Report’s real message

In 2025, the Garante took part in 260 international meetings and contributed to European and global initiatives on AI, data governance and the protection of fundamental rights. Yet the Report’s central message is directed equally at the national level and at day-to-day implementation: businesses and public administrations are called upon to make data protection a structural pillar of governance, security and trust. Privacy compliance can no longer be confined to the records of processing activities or privacy notices: it must be integrated into decision-making processes, technological development models, supplier management, cybersecurity and corporate culture. In other words, the question is no longer whether to innovate, but how to do so without losing control over data and, consequently, over the relationship of trust with individuals, customers, employees and citizens.

“A ‘flow-constrained’ approach may improve the presentation of the measure in the dialogue with Brussels; it does not, however, transform a legally fragile measure into one that is automatically authorizable,” Piero Vigano and Francesco Mazzocchi, partners at law firm ADVANT Nctm, told ICIS.

Vigano and Mazzocchi said the resolution makes preserving Italy’s net import position and minimizing impacts on crossborder electricity flows “a central operational constraint” of the reimbursement scheme. The lawyers suggested that “the Commission could look more favourably on a mechanism in which the impact on flows is controlled, transparent and verifiable ex ante, rather than on a mechanism in which the cross-border effect is measured only ex post.”

The regulator’s resolution states that the value and frequency of the reimbursement will be calculated by Italian TSO Terna on the basis of rules defined by ARERA, while taking into account the expected price differential between electricity prices in Italy and neighboring EU countries.

“However, even a ‘flow-constrained’ design would not automatically eliminate compatibility issues, because the selective advantage bestowed on gas-fired generators, the effect on trade between member states, the distortion of competition and the effect on the ETS signal would still need to be assessed”, they added.

Read the full article here

The Content of the New Paragraph 1-bis

The proposal expressly includes data, algorithms and mathematical methods used for training AI systems among the business information and technical-industrial know-how that may qualify as trade secrets, provided that the traditional requirements of secrecy, economic value and reasonable protection measures are met.

Scope of the Provision: Inclusion and Definition

The amendment operates on two complementary levels. First, it expressly clarifies that AI-related assets may fall within the scope of trade secret protection. Secondly, it provides a definition of algorithms and mathematical methods, including model architectures, optimisation functions, training procedures and configurations, as well as any other technical-computational element functional to the development of AI systems.

A Clarification Rather than a New Intellectual Property Right

The amendment does not create a new intellectual property right over AI models, nor does it alter the existing requirements for trade secret protection. Rather, it provides legal certainty by confirming that AI assets may benefit from the existing trade secret regime.

Objective Limits of Protection

Protection remains conditional upon the fulfilment of the requirements set out in Article 98. Consequently, publicly available model weights, openly accessible datasets, and generally known architectures or optimisation functions will not automatically qualify for protection.

Why Trade Secrets Rather than Copyright?

The legislative choice reflects the difficulties of relying on copyright law to protect AI assets. Copyright remains tied to human authorship and individual creative contribution, whereas many AI-related assets derive their value primarily from investment, data collection, engineering effort and technical development rather than creative expression.

From this perspective, trade secret protection appears better suited to preserving the economic value of large-scale AI investments through an objective and technology-neutral legal framework.

Procedural Aspects: The Specialised Business Courts

Disputes concerning training datasets, algorithms and model weights benefiting from trade secret protection would fall within the jurisdiction of the Italian Specialised Business Courts, ensuring continuity with existing case law on trade secrets and confidential business information.

Critical Perspectives: The Transparency Challenge

The proposal is not immune from criticism. Some commentators argue that recognising AI data, architectures and parameters as potential trade secrets may increase opacity at a time when both EU and national legislation are moving towards greater transparency and explainability requirements.

However, a distinction must be drawn between the explanation of a specific automated decision and disclosure of the underlying model. The former concerns the intelligibility of a decision affecting an individual, whereas the latter concerns access to datasets, model weights, architectures and training configurations. These are distinct legal and technical issues.

A more delicate tension may arise where verification of an AI system requires access to training data or the model itself in order to investigate bias, discrimination or malfunction. In such circumstances, trade secret protection may operate not as a barrier to explanation, but as a limitation on full inspection of the system.

Conclusion

By expressly recognising the potential trade secret protection of AI assets, the proposed amendment provides businesses with valuable guidance for structuring research and development investments and designing protection strategies. It confirms a clear policy choice in favour of an objective form of protection based on secrecy rather than a creativity-based model centred on authorship. The effectiveness of this choice will ultimately depend on how courts and regulators balance innovation, legal certainty, transparency and accountability in the AI ecosystem.

For more information, please visit our Intellectual Property and Digital and Data practice areas.

On June 18th, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security ("MASE") signed the long-awaited decree aimed at regulating the incentive mechanism now known as "FER-X" and dedicated to the production of electricity from renewable plants  with generation costs close to market competitiveness (the "Final FER-X Decree").

The measure follows the European Commission's decision of 8 June 2026, by which the measure was declared compatible with the internal market under state aid rules.

The most relevant data, on a systematic level, concerns the change of legal basis compared to the previous transitional regime introduced by the MASE decree of 30 December 2024 ("Transitional FER-X Decree" or "Transitional FER-X"): the latter, in fact, had been adopted as part of an emergency and crisis framework applicable only to aid granted by 31 December 2025 and aimed at dealing with the consequences deriving from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

The FER-X Final Decree, on the other hand, is based on the Guidelines for State aid measures in support of the Pact for Clean Industry, adopted by the European Commission on 25 June 2025 and applicable to aid granted by 31 December 2030.

The new regime, therefore, is no longer presented as  an emergency bridging measure, but as a structural tool to support the energy transition, consistent with the objectives of the Clean Industrial Deal and the Net-Zero Industry Act.

According to the European Commission at the time of the approval of the measure, the scheme has a total budget of 23 billion euros and is expected to support the construction of about 37.15 GW of new renewable capacity, equal to about 48% of the RES capacity currently installed in Italy, contributing to the achievement of the national target of 39.4% of gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources by 2030.

2. The Support Mechanism

In its basic architecture, the FER-X Final Decree replicates the already known model introduced by the transitional regime, supporting the construction of photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric and gas-fired  plants powered by residual gases from purification processes, including the hypotheses of new construction, complete refurbishment, partial renovation and upgrading of existing plants (for the latter, limited to the new section of the plant attributable to the intervention).

Access to the mechanism continues to be divided into two directions, depending on the power of the plant:

(i) direct access for plants with a capacity of less than or equal to 1 MW that have started work after the entry into force of the decree and to which an award price is assigned administratively set by ARERA;

(ii) access through competitive procedures (downward auctions announced by  the GSE) for plants with a capacity of more than 1 MW, with power quotas distinguished by technology and whose award price is determined on the basis of the discount offered by competitors on the higher exercise price.

The support continues to be provided, except for plants with a capacity of less than 200 kW (all-inclusive tariff), through a two-way contract for difference: if the market reference price is lower than the award price, the GSE pays the difference to the producer; conversely, if the market price is higher, the producer returns the difference to the system.

The duration of the contracts and, therefore, the period of maintenance of the incentives also remains unchanged (i.e., 20 years from the date of entry into operation of the relevant plant).

Finally, there is no news even with regard to strike prices.

3. The main changes compared to the Transitional FER-X Decree

The innovations introduced by the Final FER-X Decree compared to the previous incentive scheme mainly concern the architecture of the quotas, the selection procedures and some safeguards to protect the system.

3.1 Duration and total quotas

The Final FER-X Decree significantly expands the time and size horizon of the mechanism.

In fact:

• the validity of the measure is extended from 31 December 2025 (end of the transitional regime) to 31 December 2030;

• the power quota for plants with a capacity of less than or equal to 1 MW (and, therefore, eligible for direct access to the incentive) rises from 3 GW to 10 GW;

• the total estimated quota for competitive procedures (i.e., for plants with a capacity of more than 1 MW) increases from 14.65 GW to 27.15 GW, thus bringing the total allocation of the mechanism (direct access and competitive procedures) from the previous 17.65 GW to the current 37.15 GW.

3.2 Quota allocation: more space for wind energy

The increase in the quota allocated to competitive procedures is not evenly distributed among technologies, but is almost entirely attributable to wind power.

While the quota reserved for photovoltaic (10 GW), hydroelectric (0.63 GW) and sewage gases (0.02 GW) is not changed, on the other hand, the quota reserved for wind power goes from the previous 4 GW to the current 16.5 GW.

The decree does not illustrate, in the premises, the basis of this redistribution and, on this point, more clarifications could be contained in the implementing decree of the MASE, to be adopted within 60 days of the entry into force of the Final FER-X Decree, in order to regulate the methodology for calculating the minimum and maximum target power quota.

In this regard, it should be noted that this implementing decree will have to take into account, among other elements, the expected evolution of electricity demand, the regional breakdown of national objectives, the evolution of the transmission grid and  storage resources: criteria that the transitional regime did not expressly refer to among those relevant for the definition of quotas.

3.3 NZIA procedures

Article 6 of the Final FER-X Decree provides for ad hoc competitive procedures for photovoltaic and wind power plants with a capacity of more than 1 MW, in implementation of the now well-known Net-Zero Industry Act referred to in Regulation (EU) 2024/1735 ("NZIA").

Pursuant to the Final FER-X Decree, a share equal to at least 30% of the maximum quota that can be procured for photovoltaic and wind power, during the year in which the procedure is announced, must be allocated through these procedures on the basis of which, in addition to the price, the following pre-selection and "non-price" award criteria are also relevant for the award: 

(i) responsible corporate conduct, in terms of sustainability due diligence;

(ii) cybersecurity and data security, including the maintenance of operational control of the facility by an operator established in the European Economic Area;

(iii) the ability to carry out the project completely and on schedule;

(iv) the auction's contribution to resilience;

(v) the contribution of the auction to sustainability, through scores attributed to the presence of power storage systems equal to at least 25% of the nominal power.

As regards the criterion set out in point (iv), it is specified that – if the Commission, pursuant to Article 29(2) of the Net Zero Industry Act, has established that more than 50% of the supply within the Union of final products or their main specific components originates from a single third country, or that the supply within the Union of final products or their main specific components originating in a single third country has increased on average by at least 10 percentage points for two consecutive years and reaches at least 40% of the supply within the Union – it is necessary that the products/components of the relevant installations are not assembled or originated in that third country (e.g., photovoltaic modules and cells, inverters, turbines, powertrains, etc.).

In short, unlike the transitional regime, the direct reference to China is eliminated  by using a more generic reference to "third countries" and it is expected that the possible application of this criterion derives from a specific assessment by the Commission aimed at verifying the European dependency rate in terms of imports of certain products/components with the aim of making the EU (and, therefore, Italy) less vulnerable to potential supply risks.

Compared to the previous version, a greater articulation of the NZIA mechanism has been introduced, with the aim of transposing into the national law the need to combine auctions based exclusively on price with procedures that enhance the resilience of the European supply chain and the industrial quality of projects.

3.4 Competitive procedures and preliminary qualification

The procedure for access to competitive procedures is also restructured: if in the transitional regime the operator submitted a single application for participation, including the documentation certifying the possession of the requirements, within a window of sixty days, with publication of the ranking within the following ninety days, the Final FER-X Decree instead breaks down the procedure into two distinct phases: the first, consisting of a preliminary qualification, in which the GSE verifies in advance the possession of the subjective requirements and any priority criteria, and a subsequent tender phase, in which only the already qualified entity submits the economic offer. Precisely because of this anticipation of the documentary checks, the time of the competitive phase is significantly reduced : the window for the submission of the application for participation cannot exceed ten days and the ranking must be published within the following ten working days.

In line with this acceleration, the rules on sureties are also being reviewed. The provisional deposit, equal to 5% of the investment cost (a percentage substantially in line with that already deducible from the transitional regime, where it was set at 50% of the final deposit), must now be paid already at the time of  the expression of interest, rather than at the time of the application for participation; the deadline for payment of the final deposit, equal to 10% of the investment cost calculated on the power admitted in the ranking, it is reduced from ninety to thirty days from the publication of the ranking with a positive outcome. The specific investment costs used for the calculation, shown in Table 2 of Annex 1, remain unchanged for all technologies (900 €/kW photovoltaic, 1,420 €/kW wind, 3,160 €/kW hydroelectric, 3,500 €/kW sewage gas).

In addition:

• the deadline for the adoption of the  operating rules implementing the mechanism is reduced from ninety to sixty days; the expressions of interest already submitted pursuant to the Transitional FER-X Decree, moreover, are expressly calculated within the maximum limit of three manifestations per plant also provided for by the new decree, thus ensuring continuity with the previous regime;

• the provision, present in the transitional regime, which expressly guaranteed the performance of at least two competitive procedures per year, is no longer applicable: the Final FER-X Decree merely requires compliance with the conditions of competition of the procedures, entirely deferring the definition of the related calendar to the operating rules.

Finally, the transitional regime provided for a uniform term of 36 months, starting from the publication of the ranking, for the entry into operation of all plants admitted through the competitive procedure, regardless of technology.

In this regard, the Final FER-X Decree introduces, on the other hand, differentiated terms by type of plant and category of intervention.

The penalties on the tariff in the event of delay (0.2% per month for the first nine months of delay, 0.5% per month for the following six) and the consequences of forfeiture of the ranking remain substantially similar to those of the transitional regime.

3.5 Rental signs and entry requirements for photovoltaics

The transitional regime provided, for photovoltaics only, a fixed correction of the award price according to the geographical area (+4 €/MWh for the Central regions, +10 €/MWh for those in the North), designed to compensate for the different levels of insolation. The Final FER-X Decree eliminates this fixed correction from Annex 1 and replaces it with a mechanism of rental signals integrated directly into the ranking algorithm: the Ministry, with the support of Terna and the GSE, will define specific coefficients for each market area, to be applied to price reduction offers before they are ranked in ascending order (Articles 7 and 8). It is a technologically neutral mechanism, applicable to all sources and no longer reserved only for photovoltaics, designed to provide signals consistent with the expected development of the electricity grid.

In terms of access requirements, the FER-X Final Decree also introduces a specific tightening for photovoltaics: while in the transitional regime all technologies could, at the request of the producer, participate in competitive procedures by presenting only the environmental impact assessment measure instead of the enabling title, the new decree reserves this faculty only to technologies other than photovoltaics. For photovoltaic systems, therefore, the possession of the building and operation permit remains necessary. The premises of the decree motivate the choice with reference to the large number of photovoltaic projects that have already completed the enabling process, to which it was intended to give priority access to the mechanism.

3.6 Early withdrawal, dispatching and other changes

Finally, the Final FER-X Decree strengthens some safeguards to protect the system. In the event of undue early termination of the contract, the penalty due to GSE is no longer calculated according to the proportional criterion already provided for by the transitional regime (increasing according to power, decreasing according to the remaining period, up to a limit of 20% of the standard investment cost), but corresponds to the greater of this amount and a new value commensurate with any overcompensation which the producer would obtain by exiting the contract in a context of expected market prices higher than the award price, calculated on the basis of the best available estimates of forward energy prices increased by 20%. The provision is clearly designed to discourage opportunistic withdrawals motivated by market price developments.

On the dispatching front, the new decree introduces a mechanism not present in the transitional regime, aimed at preventing plants from being incentivized to maximize production in the absence of a real system need and to prevent overgeneration phenomena: when the price of the Day-Ahead Market is significantly higher than that recorded in the most liquid sessions of the Intraday Market, the producer is required to offer  the excess quantities on the Balancing Market at a price equal to its variable cost, with suspension of differential regulation for these volumes. Specific rules are also introduced for scheduled maintenance periods and for cases of zero or negative prices on the Intraday Market in the presence of positive prices on the Day-Ahead Market.

Other significant changes include:

(i) the possibility, for all categories of intervention, to use regenerated components and not just new ones (Annex 4);

(ii) the doubling of the correction of the award price for plants built on bodies of water, from +5 to +10 €/MWh (Annex 1);

(iii) the redefinition of the notion of "newly built plant", no longer anchored to a period of absence on site of at least five years, but to the non-reuse of components, infrastructures or works of a pre-existing plant, except for regenerated (Annex 4);

(iv) the elimination, among the priority criteria applicable in the event of surplus applications, of the removal of eternit or asbestos roofs  and the presence of storage systems: the first profile continues to benefit from the tariff increase of +27 €/MWh, while the second is now included, albeit limited to the procedures dedicated to the Net-Zero Industry Act,  among the award criteria related to sustainability;

(v) the support, among the priority criteria related to location, of the new "acceleration zones" identified pursuant to Articles 11-bis and 12 of Legislative Decree No. 190 of 2024 (as amended by Legislative Decree No. 178 of 2025) to the "suitable areas", which in the transitional regime constituted the only relevant location reference;

(vi) for hydroelectric plants, the replacement of the verification of compliance with the Guidelines on water diversions, previously conducted by the National System for Environmental Protection (SNPA) through a dedicated investigation, with a verification carried out directly by the concessionaire authority at the request of the concessionaire (Annex 3).

4. Preliminary considerations and next steps

The main strategic innovation of the Final FER-X Decree is the decision to concentrate almost entirely the increase in quotas on wind technologies, whose ceiling in competitive procedures increases from 4 GW to 16.5 GW, absorbing about 74% of the entire increase in capacity allocated to auctions.

This choice appears to be consistent with the objectives of diversifying the national electricity mix and with the need, repeatedly highlighted by Terna and the energy planning scenarios, to combine the strong growth of photovoltaics with a source characterized by a more complementary production profile, especially in the evening and winter months.

However, the Decree does not provide an explicit justification for the technical and systemic reasons that led to this reallocation of quotas, effectively postponing the definition of the calculation methodology to subsequent implementing measures.

From an operational point of view, there is also a potential criticality linked to the market's effective capacity to absorb and realize, by 2030, such a significant volume of new wind capacity. Although the authorisation framework has improved significantly in recent years, there are still elements of uncertainty related to permitting times, territorial opposition, landscape constraints and the availability of the transmission grid in the areas most suited to wind development.

A further element of attention concerns the interaction between the new wind quota and the NZIA procedures. The reservation of at least 30% of annual volumes for procedures that enhance industrial resilience criteria and the origin of components could favor the European supply chain of turbines and main components, but at the same time risks leading to an increase in investment costs and a reduction in competition in the early stages of application, especially in the absence of a European production capacity fully adequate to the expected demand.

Finally, the success of the incentive scheme will depend significantly on the ability of the legislator and the competent administrations to coordinate the development of wind generation with that of grid infrastructures and storage systems. The same decree expressly recognises that the definition of future quotas will have to take into account the evolution of electricity demand, the transmission grid and storage resources, highlighting how the issue of integration into the electricity system today represents one of the main challenges for the growth of renewable sources.

Ultimately, the Final FER-X marks a paradigm shift with respect to the transitional regime: from a measure mainly aimed at supporting renewable capacity in a general sense to an instrument that identifies wind power as one of the cornerstones of the national decarbonisation strategy. However, it remains to be seen whether the ambition of the new quotas will be adequately reflected in the country's authorization, industrial and infrastructural capacity, elements that will represent the real test of the new mechanism in the 2026-2030 period.

In order to have a clear, complete and exhaustive picture of the future new regulations (and the consequent reactions of market players), it will still be necessary to wait for the entry into force of the legislation and subsequent implementing measures.

The FER-X Decree has been transmitted to the Court of Auditors and is expected to enter into force in the coming days. It is now a matter of waiting for the detailed regulations and, specifically:

• the GSE's operating rules, which should be published and approved by the MASE within 60 days of the entry into force of the Decree;

• the MASE decree, to be adopted within 60 days of the entry into force of the Final FER-X Decree, aimed at regulating:

• the distribution over time of quotas by technology and procedure;

• the coefficients for each market area;

• the methodology for calculating minimum, target and maximum contingent.

• the definition by ARERA, within 90 days of the entry into force of the decree, of the award prices for plants with a capacity of less than or equal to 1 MW.

Based on the provisions of the FER-X Decree, the GSE should publish the notice to submit requests for preliminary qualification within 30 days of the publication of the operating rules, as a result it is very likely that the "new" incentive mechanism will get to the heart of the matter starting from September/October 2026. 

Joining ADVANT Nctm alongside Fantacchiotti are Anna Gagliardi, counsel, and Pietro Pozzati, managing associate, professionals with expertise in domestic and cross-border M&A and private equity who have already worked side by side with him on recent transactions. This cohesive, immediately operational addition structurally strengthens the firm’s ability to assist leading clients in the most complex transactions.

The arrival of Fantacchiotti and his team further consolidates and strengthens a practice that now includes more than 40 of the most influential professionals in the legal landscape and which, in terms of size, quality and track record, ranks among the leading firms in the Italian market. 

The group includes some of the professionals most highly recognised also by the leading international legal directories, confirming the firm’s position as one the most prominent advisors in national private equity, M&A and alternative investments. 

Fantacchiotti’s arrival is a significant indication of the firm’s direction and forms part of ADVANT Nctm’s long-term growth strategy: to strengthen its capabilities and reputation on the international stage, consolidate its leadership in private equity, and further establish itself as a trusted adviser to leading Italian and international financial operators.

“Giorgio Fantacchiotti’s arrival marks a significant milestone for ADVANT Nctm. Giorgio is one of the most respected figures in Italian M&A: he has built his career at the highest levels of international business law, boasts an exceptional track record and maintains a network of top-tier relationships. The team joining with him has already demonstrated its ability to work with the same vision and the same high standards. With his arrival, our M&A and private equity practice — already recognised among the market leaders — takes another step forward in quality, strengthening a team that stands out in Italy in terms of depth, experience, and recognition”, said Paolo Montironi, senior partner at ADVANT Nctm.

“Joining ADVANT Nctm means becoming part of a firm with a professional culture that strongly resonates with me and a reputation built over time. I will bring my experience in M&A with the ambition to make a tangible contribution to the practice’s growth, focusing on international expansion, private equity and strengthening relationships with key market players”, said Giorgio Fantacchiotti. 

Following this appointment, ADVANT Nctm now has 87 partners.