The Draft Italian Code of International Crimes

In a major effort of coordination, on 31 May 2022, the Committee of Experts appointed by the Italian Minister of Justice delivered the draft Italian ‘Code of International Crimes’ (CIC), whose purpose is to fully implement the Rome Statute into the domestic legal system by adopting substantive legislation on international crimes. The aim of this article is to give an account of the work of the Committee, outlining the prospective legislation and presenting the choices made within the process of implementation. The draft Italian law analysed here represents one example of the different implementation processes which followed the adoption of the ICC Statute, both with respect to the chosen method of implementation — the adoption of an ad hoc code of international crimes — and with respect to some substantive choices, such as the introduction of the crime of cultural genocide and the responsibility of legal persons for international crimes. Ensuring coherence with the fundamental principles of the domestic legal system was of course of utmost importance and guided the entire Committee’s work, in light of the state’s margin of appreciation within the implementation process. In this sense, the implementation process underlying the draft CIC entailed both a transposition of concepts and elements of the ICC Statute into the domestic legal order (internationalization of national laws) and their adaptation to the specific features of the domestic system (nationalization of international criminal law).