PNRR law enters into force: €1.05 billion more and levy on parcel shipments postponed to October

Law No. 152 of 7 August 2026, converting into law the decree on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, was published in the Official Gazette on 20 August and entered into force on the 21st. The measure supplements the funding of four investments under the Plan for a total of approximately €1.054 billion, earmarked mainly for water infrastructure, energy communities, small and medium-sized enterprises and public residential housing, as reported by Forze Armate on the basis of the published text.

The figure should be read carefully for what it is: a top-up of funding for already existing investment lines, not a new programme. The material available indicates the total and the sectors, not the precise breakdown among the four investments: until that table is made public, any distribution of resources among the water network, energy communities, enterprises and public housing remains a supposition.

The postponement affecting parcels

The measure likely to have the most immediate impact on the finances of households and e-commerce is a postponement: the levy on low-value non-EU parcel shipments moves from 1 July to 1 October 2026. Three months’ extension for a charge affecting low-value parcels arriving from outside the European Union, that is, the channel underpinning much of low-price cross-border shopping.

The missing step

The most significant point for the Plan’s stability, however, is contained in the same text: the reprogramming has yet to be finalised through the European Union’s formal decision. In other words, the Italian Parliament has converted into law a redistribution of resources that, at European level, has not been settled.

The timetable remains tight: the targets and milestones of the European instrument must be completed by 31 August 2026. Two clocks are running on separate tracks — the national one, which has already produced a law now in force, and the European one, which has yet to produce a formal act. What consequences any misalignment between the two might have is not specified in the material available.

The decree on artificial intelligence

Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers meeting of 4 August examined the implementing decree on artificial intelligence. According to the statement from the Council of Ministers of 4 August 2026, the text brings forward the operation of regulatory sandboxes with preferential treatment for small and medium-sized enterprises and for start-ups, allocates €100 million to counter risks linked to the misuse of digital platforms and social networks, makes training on artificial intelligence compulsory within the Continuing Medical Education programme, and entrusts the Higher School of the Judiciary with training magistrates on the same subject. The measure has been updated in line with the changes introduced to the European regulation by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, with penalties made conditional on the entry into force of the corresponding obligations and prohibitions.

On this second measure, the news currently comes from a single source (the Council of Ministers’ statement of 4 August); no independent confirmation is available. This is a distinction that matters: for Law 152 there is a published text in the Official Gazette, whereas for the decree on artificial intelligence there is so far only the government’s description of it.

The two measures share a mechanism of penalties and deadlines tied to a European timetable: in the first case, the European Union’s decision on reprogramming; in the second, the entry into force of the obligations set out in the updated regulation.

Sources: Forze Armate; PNRR Mission Structure – Presidency of the Council; Department for European Affairs.