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ROME — An Italian administrative court has ruled that the country’s recently enacted age verification rules can’t, at least for now, be enforced against sites based elsewhere in the European Union.
Last year, Italy’s communications regulator AGCOM said all platforms hosting adult content would need to implement age verification systems to keep out users under 18. The timeline was clear enough: Italy-based sites had to comply by Nov. 12, 2025, while sites operating from other EU countries were given until Feb. 1, 2026.
AGCOM also published a preliminary list of 45 providers it believed would fall under the rule. Many were among the most visited adult sites online, including Aylo-operated platforms Pornhub, YouPorn and Redtube.
Aylo challenged the rules on several fronts, prompting the Regional Administrative Court for Lazio to pause enforcement while it took a closer look. A hearing followed on March 11.
In a ruling released Tuesday, the court sided with Aylo on procedural grounds, finding that AGCOM’s rules do not fully align with the “country of origin” principle set out in the EU’s Directive on Electronic Commerce. The principle provides that online services are generally regulated by the laws of the country where they are established.
The court found that while exceptions to that principle may be justified, certain conditions must be met. The ruling states that a country where content is accessible cannot impose additional obligations unless it first asks the provider’s home country to take action, determines that such action is insufficient, and notifies both the European Commission and the country of origin before adopting restrictive measures.
According to the court, AGCOM did not follow this procedure, meaning companies would have been required to comply immediately without their states of origin having the opportunity to adopt corrective measures.
If the ruling stands, AGCOM will need to complete those steps before enforcing Italy’s age verification law against Aylo or other platforms based in EU member states. The decision may be appealed to Italy’s Council of State.
The ruling applies only to EU-based platforms and does not affect enforcement against sites based outside the European Union.
Cross-Border Legal Framework Still Emerging
While the court upheld Aylo’s complaint based on procedural grounds, it rejected the company’s argument that protection of minors online falls exclusively under the authority of the European Commission in areas covered by the EU’s Digital Services Act.
Aylo, which is based in Cyprus, has been involved in similar legal disputes in other EU countries. In Germany, a court found that the “country of origin” principle limits the ability of individual member states to impose additional national requirements in areas already addressed by EU law.
In France, an advocate general of the EU’s Court of Justice issued a non-binding opinion advising that France can require pornographic websites based in other EU states to comply with its national age verification rules. That case remains pending.
The Italian court stated that efforts to harmonize laws protecting minors online across EU member states are still ongoing. Until that process is complete, the court said, member states may adopt national measures, provided they comply with EU law and the Directive on Electronic Commerce.
“In the absence of a harmonized and mandatory solution at the Union level, Member States may adopt national measures which — while respecting the principles of Union law — ensure a high level of protection for minors,” the ruling states.
The court also indicated that broader harmonization may depend in part on the rollout of the EU Digital Identity Wallet.
The European Commission has launched a pilot program for an age verification application designed to integrate with digital wallets and support compliance with age verification requirements under the Digital Services Act. Italy’s regulations require that age verification systems be compatible with this application, which is also being tested in Denmark, France, Greece and Spain.
Aylo has participated in the pilot program.
