The first green light in Italy for regulation on blockchain and smart contracts as part of the amendment to the Simplification Decree has arrived today.
The announcement was made yesterday in the Senate and the Italian legislation is aimed at “the possibility of giving legal value to a transaction that uses an electronic and distributed ledger, without the need of notaries or central certification bodies,” explains Fulvio Sarzana, one of the 30 blockchain experts selected by the MiSE, during an interview with the Italian newspaper Sole24ore.
“The regulation on smart contracts, on the other hand, gives a contract that is automatically executed by a computer program the legal value of a normal, written and signed contract,“ he continues.
This legislation, as an amendment to the decree, was approved yesterday by the Constitutional Affairs and Public Works Commissions of the Senate, whose first signatory was Stefano Patuanelli of the Italian political movement M5S (Movimento 5 Stelle).
To become law, the legislation on blockchain and smart contracts must now be passed to the Chamber and approved.
Subsequently, the Agency for Digital Italy will have to identify – within 90 days – the standards for the documents that will be managed using blockchain technology.
