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Natural and catastrophic Insurance policies: conversion into law with amendments

 published on 27 May 2025 | reading time approx. 3 minutes

With the final approval by the Senate on May 21, 2025, Decree-Law n. 39/2025, containing urgent measures on mandatory insurance against catastrophic risks, was converted into law with amendments. The provision represents a fundamental step in the implementation of the insurance obligation introduced by the 2024 Budget Law (L. 213/2023, art. 1, para. 101-105), aimed at enhancing the resilience of the national production system, against catastrophic events.

During the process of conversion into law, certain amendments were introduced, addressing some of the uncertainties that had been awaiting clarification.

One of the most significant amendments concerns leased assets. In particular, this refers to the rule that establishes the obligation for entrepreneurs to insure the assets listed in art. 2424 para. 1, in the Assets section, item B-II, n. 1), 2) e 3) of the Italian Civil Code “employed for the conduct of the business under any title”; it is now established that the entrepreneur who holds assets under a lease agreement and is responsible for insuring them, must pay the compensation to the owner of the asset, which is obliged to use the sums for the restoration of damaged or perished goods. If the owner does not fulfil this obligation, the insured entrepreneur has the right to compensation for the profit loss caused by the interruption of business activity, up to a limit of 40 per cent of the compensation received by the owner.

Another amendment regards the insurance obligation concerning unauthorized properties. The provision clarifies that only properties that meet the following conditions are insurable:

constructed or expanded based on a valid construction permit or whose completion dates to a time when obtaining a building permit was not mandatory;
subject to a building amnesty, or for which a regularization or amnesty procedure is currently pending.

For non-insurable properties, no compensation or public relief is provided, even in the event of catastrophic or natural disasters.

During the conversion process, the criteria for classifying enterprises as micro, small, or medium-sized were also modified, as the reference to EU Directive 2023/2775 was replaced by the European Commission Recommendation 2003/361/CE.

The deadline, initially set for December 31, 2024, then postponed to March 31, 2025, has since been differentiated based on company size as follows:

Size	Deadline
Micro entreprise	December 31, 2025
Small entreprise	December 31, 2025
Medium entreprise	October 1, 2025
Big entreprise	March 31, 2025, however, non-compliance will not be sanctioned for 90 days (therefore until June 28, 2025).

According to article 2 of the Attachment to Recommendation 2003/361/CE an enterprise falls into a category if it does not exceed the limits of at least 2 of the 3 criteria listed in the following table:

Size	Total assets in the balance sheet	Revenue	Average annual number of employees
Micro entreprise	≤ 2 million euros	≤ 2 million euros	< 10
Small entreprise	≤ 10 million euros	≤ 10 million euros	< 50
Medium entreprise	≤ 43 million euros	≤ 50 million euros	< 250
Big entreprise	> 43 mmillion euros	> 50 million euros	≥ 250

During the conversion into Law, amendments were also made regarding deductibles and excesses. The Decree-Law also amends art. 1, para 104, of the Law 213/2023, which limits deductibles and excesses to 15 per cent of the damage. The new formulation excludes these limits for big enterprises, as defined by Ministerial Decree 18/2025, as well as for subsidiaries and affiliated companies that meet the size requirements at the balance sheet closing date.

The introduction of mandatory insurance against catastrophic risks represents a strategic step for the protection of the national productive assets. The recent conversion into law of the Decree-Law 39/2025, with the amendments made, clarifies certain fundamental aspects for the functioning of enterprises, while also requiring thoughtful evaluation of the insurance decisions to be taken.

In this context, it is expected that the Price Surveillance Authority, in collaboration with IVASS, will carry out control and monitoring activities to prevent speculative practices on insurance premiums. This element reinforces the importance of a technical and transparent assessment of insurance coverage, in line with the principles of risk proportionality and economic sustainability.