Key changes include: extension of the validity period to three years; additional score for companies that have already renewed their rating continuously over at least three rating periods; issuance of the certificate in English.
The new Implementing Regulation on the Legality Rating (AGCM decision No. 31812 of 27 January 2026) enters into force today. The new Regulation has been published in the Official Gazette (No. 33 of 10 February 2026) and in the Authority’s Bulletin (supplement to Bulletin No. 6 of 10 February 2026). On 10 February, the Notice providing guidance on the new regulatory framework, including the interim provisions, as well as the updated FAQs were made available to companies in Italian.
The new Regulation introduces several key changes, including:
Moreover, the legality requirements and information obligations have been strengthened in order to preserve the incentive-based nature of the rating. Starting today, companies must use the new Forms and Templates available in Italian on the WebRating platform and on the Legality Rating section of the Authority’s website. Companies have until 15 April 2026 to renew any pending applications. Applications not renewed by that date will be deemed withdrawn, but a new application may be submitted at any time (points 14-17 of the Notice to companies). Companies holding a rating as at 16 March 2026 must notify the Authority by 15 May 2026 of any events that occurred before the entry into force of the new Regulation and that would prevent the rating from being maintained under the new rules (points 18-21 of the Notice to companies). Such notification must be submitted using the Template available on the Authority’s website.
Further details and the relevant online procedures are available in Italian in the Legality Rating section of the Authority’s website.
Rome, 16 March 2026
A questionnaire will be sent to the over 8,000 companies that have obtained or renewed their legality rating in the last two years. The request for Rating is constantly growing, + 12% in 2020
The Legality Rating continues to find increasing interest among companies. In fact, in 2020, the Authority concluded approximately 4,600 rating proceedings, with an increase by approximately 12% compared to 2019, confirming a constantly growing trend.
The Authority reminds that the Legality Rating is a reward institution: in addition to strengthening the reputation of economic operators obtaining the rating, it gives virtuous companies further benefits when they request public or bank funding and when they participate in tenders for the award of public contracts.
According to the Antitrust Authority, it is important, especially in the current period of economic crisis, that all the benefits in principle available for the companies that have obtained the Rating are fully recognized in practice, thus enhancing the economic operators which stand out in terms of corporate compliance and development of a business culture based on ethical principles.
For this reason, the Authority has decided to launch a survey to assess the actual impact of the Rating on the activity of the companies that own it and on the market in general. The questionnaire will be sent to all the over 8,000 companies that have obtained or renewed the Legality Rating in the last two years.
The data collection aims, in particular, at recording and measuring the benefits that companies have obtained thanks to the possession of the Rating, as well as to identify any obstacles to obtain them. The results could be used to shape further initiatives to strengthen this institution and its effectiveness.
Rome, 2 March 2021
The Chairman of the Italian Competition Authority, Roberto Rustichelli, and the Commander-General of the Carabinieri, Teo Luzi, met at the Carabinieri General Headquarters, almost two years after signing the Memorandum of Understanding on the Legality Rating in November 2020.
This was a favourable occasion to comment on the positive implementation of the Memorandum. Indeed, as a result of strengthening cooperation with the Carabinieri, and thanks to the high professionalism of its staff, the Italian Competition Authority is able to make the necessary assessments for assigning the Legality Rating in a more thorough, reliable and rapid manner.
The Legality Rating, issued by the AGCM, is a recognition that strengthens the reputation of the economic operators that obtain it, giving virtuous companies the right to access benefits when they request public or bank funding and when they participate in public procurement tenders.
The signed memorandum sets out -as areas of cooperation- the exchange of information for the release, renewal, downgrading and revocation of the Legality Rating; moreover, it allows the organisation of reciprocal training activities in matters of common interest and, finally, facilitates the exchange of best practices and lessons learned.
There are currently almost 10 thousand companies that have obtained the Legality Rating and, from the implementation of the Memorandum to date, there has been an effective collaboration with the Carabinieri in almost 9,000 cases.
The Memorandum of Understanding on the Legality Rating, which has a duration of five years, is an example of synergy in the Public Administration and effective cooperation among institutions to the benefit of the business community.
Rome, 27 September 2022
Regulation to come into force on 16 March. Key changes include an extension of the validity period to three years and an additional score for companies applying for renewal that have already held the rating continuously over at least three rating periods
The new Implementing Regulation on the Legality Rating (AGCM decision No. 31812 of 27 January 2026) has been published in the Official Gazette (No. 33 of 10 February 2026) and will come into force on 16 March. The Regulation has been updated to reflect established enforcement practice and developments in case law. It also takes into account the feedback and suggestions submitted by stakeholders during the public consultation.
Companies can already consult the new Regulation and the related documents, available in Italian on the Authority’s website. A dedicated Notice is also available, providing guidance to companies on the new regulatory framework, including the interim provisions.
To reflect the longer duration and incentive-based nature of the rating, the legality requirements have been strengthened – particularly in relation to criminal, administrative and judicial grounds affecting eligibility – while stricter consequences now apply in the event of breaches of information obligations.
From 16 March, companies will be required to use the new Forms and Templates, which will be made available in Italian on the WebRating platform and the Legality Rating section of the Authority’s website.
Rome, 11 February 2026
The Italian Competition Authority has implemented a web platform dedicated to businesses for completing and submitting applications and communications concerning Legality Rating.
WebRating is a tool that allows businesses to submit quickly and simply all data necessary to obtain the Legality Rating, as well as any corporate changes, in the interests of transparency and mutual cooperation.
The new system, which envisages the compilation of an online form, is directly accessible via the institutional portal www.agcm.it.
The new procedure offers numerous advantages:
Rome, 21 October 2019
The new implementing regulation on legality ratings comes into force today, 20 October. The amendments take into consideration the comments received from stakeholders following a public consultation.
Changes include the extended scope of application of the regulation, which now allows entities registered only in the Economic and Administrative Repertoire to apply for the rating. Furthermore, in order to make the rating more responsive to the objectives identified by the legislator, the legality requirements have been increased both from a subjective and objective point of view.
In particular, to further enhance the rewarding nature of the rating, the directors of the parent company or of the company or entity that exercises management and coordination activities over the company applying for the legality rating are also included among the relevant subjects. Moreover, in addition to the offences already envisaged by the Regulation as being an obstacle to issuing the rating, there are now also those of usury, fraudulent transfer of assets and fraudulent bankruptcy.
Additional amendments to the Regulation concern its adaptation to case law and the simplification and clarification of the procedure.
The WebRating platform, through which companies submit rating applications electronically, has already been updated in accordance with the provisions of the new Regulation.
Rome, 20 October 2020
PRESS RELEASE
LEGALITY RATING 583 CASES CLOSED IN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS OF 2016
In the first four months of 2016, the ICA closed 583 cases attributing 418 Legality Ratings (equal to 71%). Compared to the same four-month period of 2015, this tool - appointed to the ICA to reward virtuous companies - experienced an increase respectively of 124% and 111%. Moreover, renewals amounted to 17 as well as confirmations, plus 16 score increases. Whereas, denials amounted to 27 (equal to 5%), with 3 suspensions, 4 revocations and 81 dismissals.
From January 2013 to 30 April 2016, out of a total of 2,828 requests submitted to the ICA, 2,430 cases were closed (86%), while 398 are still ongoing (14%). The total amount of Rating attributions was equal to 1,789 (74%), with 69 confirmations (3%) and 41 attributions with a higher score (2%). To complete the general view of the activity carried out to date by the ICA’s Directorate, denials amount to 104 (4%), with 10 suspensions (0.5%), 12 revocations (0.5%), 52 renewals (2%) and 353 dismissals (14%).
In these four years, most of the Legality Rating applications have been submitted by Northern Regions (53%), while 30% have been submitted by Southern Regions and the Islands (with Puglia ranking first at 10.6%), and 17% by Central Regions.
Approved by the Parliament at the end of 2012, the Legality Rating is a “premium” tool. In fact, the ICA has been appointed to attribute a score - from one to three “stars” - to virtuous companies, with a yearly turnover above two million Euros, that satisfy a series of legal requirements. First of all, in order to obtain a “star”, the Company’s owner and managers must not have criminal or fiscal records. Moreover, the Company must not have been sentenced for anti-competitive behaviours in the two previous years, and all of its payments and financial transactions above one thousand Euros must be carried out exclusively through traceable means. In order to obtain a higher score, the Regulation indicates six further requirements: two “stars” are granted if half of the requirements are satisfied, three “stars” if they are all satisfied.
According to what provided for by law, the Legality Rating entrusted to the ICA “is relevant in the granting of public funds and in access to bank credit”. Pursuant to the same regulation, “when granting funds to companies, banks that do not keep into account the attributed rating are obliged to submit a detailed report to Banca d’Italia motivating their reasons”.
The complete and updated list of companies that have obtained the Legality Rating is provided on this same website (http://www.agcm.it/rating-di-legalita/elenco.html).
Rome, 3 May 2016
RATING OF LEGALITY, NEW RULES FOR MORE STRINGENT TESTS, THE BOOM OF ALLOCATIONS CONTINUES
In the first eight months of 2016, 616 companies have obtained the rating of legality given by the Antitrust Authority, up from the 434 allocations in the same period in 2015. Also, there were 1215 requests received, an increase of 30.1% with respect to 2015. 28 companies were deemed unfit, whilst only three companies lost their “trading stamp”, a guarantee of good behaviour.
This is some of the data of the 2016 rating of legality published on the Antitrust Authority website. The comparison with the previous year shows, in general, a growing trend both for the requests ( 30.9%) and the allocations ( 39%), the confirmations ( 311.1% and the increase in the score ( 155%).
Published in the Official Gazette number 213 of 12 September 2016, the amendments to the regulations on the rating of legality are for two years and renewable with a specific request of the company signed by the legal representative and compiled using the form published on the Authority’s site. The modifications mainly concern requirements for access to the rating and the attainment of additional stars, the formal procedures and the controls provided for the verification of the existence of the self-certified conditions upon request.
Among the changes, reduction of the rating for companies that have received sanctions from the Anti-corruption Authority or annotations in computer records, more control on the ownership of subsidiaries of foreign companies that cannot receive the rating without the identification of the owners. Furthermore, no quality certification for companies that have received condemnation measures by the Antitrust Authority for unfair business practices or measures of conviction for non-compliance that can no longer be contested or a final judgement in the two years before the rating request.
The Regulation is aimed at companies that have headquarters in the national territory, having achieved a turnover of over two million Euros in the year before the rating request and have been entered into the register of companies for at least two years.
Rome, 21 September 2016
In 2016 the trend of requests for the legality rating from companies - the recognition granted by the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) to virtuous enterprises under the law of 2012 - increased continuously. In the year just ended, in fact, the applications for obtaining this ‘mark of quality’, which is a guarantee of legality and transparency, totalled 2118 compared to 1427 in 2015, with an increase of 48%. The number of ratings assigned also rose to 1499 in 2016, compared to 1046 in the previous year ( 43%). There were also 64 renewals compared to 40 in 2015 ( 60%).
As of January 2013, when the ICA’s Regulation came into force, 4603 applications for rating were received by the Authority; 2690 ratings were assigned (68% of cases), 161 (4%) were denied, 121 companies (3%) received confirmation of their ratings, 80 improved their quality level (2%), 108 had their ratings renewed (3.7%) and 10 had them revoked (0.3 %). There were 753 cases (19%) closed.
Approved by the Italian Parliament at the end of 2012 and entered into force with the ICA’s Regulation in 2013, the legality rating is the ‘award’ instrument that the ICA has been entrusted with, assigning a score from one to three ‘stars’ to virtuous companies which have an annual turnover of over two million euros and meet a number of legal requirements. To get one ‘star’, the company owner and other executives must not have a criminal or tax infringement history. In addition not to being sentenced for antitrust offences in the two prior years, the company must make payments and financial transactions over one thousand euros exclusively by means of traceable instruments. The Regulation establishes six additional requirements for companies to obtain a higher score; the companies that meet half of them get two ‘stars’, while those that meet all of these six requirements are assigned and gets three ‘stars’.
The rating awarded by the Authority, according to the aforementioned law ‘is taken into account in the granting of funds by public administrations, as well as access to bank credit’. Under the same legislation, ‘credit institutes that fail to take account of the legality rating when granting a loan to a company are required to transmit a detailed report of the reasons for their decision to the Bank of Italy’.
The complete list of companies that have so far obtained the legality rating, with their relative scores, is published on the website of the Italian Competition Authority (www.agcm.it).
Rome, 5 January 2017
LEGALITY RATING BOOM AT THE ICA: +243% REQUESTS AND +450% CASES CLOSED
The statistical data concerning the Legality Rating are such to even make the term “boom” seem inadequate. Through this tool, the ICA attributes a score to virtuous companies on the basis of the law dated 2012. From 2014 to 2015, the requests basically tripled, passing from 441 to 1,514 ( 243%), while the cases closed by the ICA’s Offices almost quintupled: from 251 to 1,382 ( 450%). Aimed at transparency and fight against corruption, this tool clearly provides economic, financial and reputational benefits which an increasing number of companies are interested in obtaining, submitting request to the ICA for a “quality label”.
More in detail, against the 183 ratings attributed in 2014, last year they rose to 1,083. In parallel, also the denials increased from 6 to 66, as well as confirmations passing from 15 to 28. Lastly, 5 revocations were carried out, while none in the previous year.
Approved by the Parliament at the end of 2012 and entered into force with the ICA’s Regulation in 2013, the Legality Rating is an “awarding” tool. In fact, the ICA has been appointed to attribute a score - from one to three “stars” - to virtuous companies, with a yearly turnover above two million Euros, that satisfy a series of legal requirements. First of all, in order to obtain a “star,” the Company’s owner and managers must not have criminal or fiscal records. Moreover, the Company must not have been sentenced for anti-competitive behaviours in the two previous years, and all of its payments and financial transactions above one thousand Euros must be carried out exclusively through traceable means. In order to obtain a higher score, the Regulation indicates six further requirements: two “stars” are granted if half of the requirements are satisfied, three “stars” if they are all satisfied.
According to what provided for by law, the Legality Rating entrusted to the ICA “is relevant in the granting of public funds and in access to bank credit.” Pursuant to the same regulation, “when granting funds to companies, banks that do not keep into account the attributed rating are obliged to submit a detailed report to Banca d’Italia motivating their reasons”.
The complete list of companies that, to date, have obtained the Legality Rating, and related score, is provided on the ICA’s website (www.agcm.it).
Rome, 5 January 2016
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