Last updated: September 2026 — by Avv. Claudia Roggero, Rome Bar since 2003, entertainment and copyright law, DANDI.media
In Italy a person’s image is protected twice over — by copyright law and by data protection law — and a release drafted for a US or UK production usually satisfies neither.
Whenever a face, voice, body or other identifying feature appears in a photograph, film, advertisement or commercial publication, Italian law generally requires consent. That consent is formalised in an image release — in Italian, a liberatoria. Without one, a production faces injunctions, takedowns, damages and, increasingly, a blocked delivery: platforms and broadcasters require warranties of clearance, and E&O underwriters check.
This guide sets out what Italian law requires, when a release is and is not needed, what a usable release must contain, and how AI has changed the drafting.
In this guide
- The legal basis: image rights and GDPR together
- When a release is needed — and when it is not
- What an effective release must contain
- Why US and UK release forms fail in Italy
- Releases involving minors
- AI consent, deepfakes and voice cloning
- What happens without a release
- Frequently asked questions
- How DANDI supports production clients
The legal basis: image rights and GDPR together
Two separate regimes apply at the same time, and satisfying one does not satisfy the other.
Image rights
- Article 10 of the Civil Code — prohibits publication or display of a person’s image where it harms their decorum or reputation, or where it is displayed without authorisation in cases prohibited by law.
- Article 96 LDA — a person’s portrait cannot be exhibited, reproduced or commercialised without their consent, save in the cases under Article 97.
- Article 97 LDA — consent is not required where reproduction is justified by the person’s notoriety, their public role, judicial or police necessity, scientific, educational or cultural purposes, or where the image relates to facts, events or ceremonies of public interest or held in public.
Data protection
Under the GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), an identifiable person’s image is personal data. Processing it requires a lawful basis — for commercial production, normally consent — plus an information notice, a defined retention period, and the data subject’s rights including withdrawal.
The practical consequence: a release that is valid under Article 96 LDA but carries no GDPR information notice leaves the production exposed on the privacy side, where the sanction is administrative and can reach 4% of global turnover. The two frameworks have to be addressed in the same document.
When a release is needed — and when it is not
| Release required | Release generally not required |
|---|---|
| Commercial use of identifiable persons — advertising, marketing, promotion | News reporting of public events |
| Editorial use going beyond pure news reporting | Public figures acting in their public capacity — politicians on official duty, athletes in competition |
| Film, television and audiovisual productions featuring private individuals | Crowd shots where no individual is the focus |
| Stock photography and video with identifiable persons | Scientific, educational or cultural publication, appropriately framed |
| Documentary participants in a non-public capacity | Police, judicial and administrative purposes |
| Influencer campaigns and brand partnerships | |
| Books, magazines and calendars sold commercially |
The limit that applies in every case: even where Article 97 removes the need for consent, the use must not harm the person’s decorum or reputation. Article 10 of the Civil Code operates independently of the copyright exception, and a lawful-but-damaging use remains actionable.
What an effective release must contain
- Parties — full names of the person depicted and of the entity acquiring rights
- The content covered — which photographs, footage or recordings, identified specifically
- Scope of use — media (print, online, broadcast, streaming, social), territories, language versions
- Duration — a defined period, or the full term of copyright in the underlying work
- Modifications — whether the production may edit, alter or recontextualise the image, which now carries directly into AI processing
- Compensation — the amount and terms, or an express acknowledgement that consent is given without payment
- Exclusions — contexts where use is not permitted: adult content, political advertising, named competitor brands
- Withdrawal — the GDPR right to withdraw consent, and what that means in practice for uses already made
- Data processing notice — GDPR-compliant, covering basis, purposes, retention and rights
- Signature and date — signed by all parties, dated, ideally witnessed
Why US and UK release forms fail in Italy
The standard “perpetual, worldwide, in all media now known or hereafter invented” formula does not transpose.
Three reasons:
- Consent must be specific. Both Italian image-rights case law and the GDPR resist open-ended consent. A grant so broad that the person cannot know what they agreed to is vulnerable to challenge, and the breadth of the wording is itself part of the problem rather than a protection.
- Consent is withdrawable under the GDPR. A contractual release cannot remove that right. What it can do is define the consequences — that withdrawal operates prospectively and does not affect uses already made — so the production knows where it stands.
- The GDPR layer is simply absent from most US forms. No information notice, no retention period, no controller identified.
For a production distributing in several jurisdictions, the workable approach is an Italian-law-compliant release for material shot in Italy or featuring Italian residents, rather than one global form stretched to cover everything.
Releases involving minors
Consent for a person under 18 comes from those exercising parental responsibility — in practice both parents should sign, where both hold it.
- From age 14, Italian law allows a minor to consent on their own behalf in relation to information society services. Below that, parental consent is required. For commercial production use, obtaining both the minor’s agreement and parental consent is the safer practice regardless.
- Standardised forms used by schools, sports clubs and youth organisations are frequently out of date — verify adequacy rather than relying on them.
- Minor performers in audiovisual production attract separate labour law requirements on working hours and educational supervision.
- Commercial use of a minor’s image attracts heightened scrutiny, and the Garante has issued specific guidance.
- Durability — consent given on a minor’s behalf is more readily contested once they reach majority.
AI consent, deepfakes and voice cloning
A release signed before 2023 almost certainly says nothing about AI, and under Italian principles that silence is not read in the producer’s favour.
A current release should deal separately with:
- AI training — whether the image may be used to train models, as a distinct consent rather than part of a general grant
- AI modification — de-aging, beautification, alteration, and the limits of each
- Voice cloning — separate consent for synthesis of the voice
- Deepfake prohibition — express, covering contexts where the likeness may not be generated
- Posthumous use — AI use after death, which engages heirs under the Italian personality rights framework
The surrounding framework: the EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) imposes transparency obligations on AI-generated content depicting identifiable persons; Italian Law 132/2025 adds national provisions on vocal and image identity.
For audiovisual productions accessing the Italian cinema tax credit there is a further requirement, and the applicable provision depends on which credit is claimed: Article 7(6) of D.I. 225/2024 for the national production credit, and Article 9(4) of D.I. 329/2024 for the foreign producer credit, which requires contracts with performers to let them withhold consent to AI exploitation of their image or performance — on pain of the application being inadmissible.
What happens without a release
- Injunctive relief — orders to cease distribution and withdraw content from circulation
- Damages — patrimonial and moral, under Article 10 of the Civil Code, Article 158 LDA and Article 82 GDPR
- Administrative fines — from the Garante, up to 4% of global turnover
- Blocked delivery — platforms, broadcasters and festivals require clearance warranties; missing releases stop the release
- Insurance — E&O cover can be denied for claims arising from releases that were never obtained
The cost of obtaining releases properly is always lower than the cost of the dispute that follows from not having them — and, unlike most production risks, this one compounds at exactly the moment the production has the least room to manoeuvre.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a release for street photography in Italy?
For personal or artistic use without commercial exploitation, generally no. For commercial use — stock libraries, advertising, books sold commercially — yes, wherever individuals are identifiable. The Article 97 exceptions for public events and well-known persons do not extend to commercial appropriation of an identifiable individual.
Is verbal consent enough?
Theoretically possible for non-commercial use, but very difficult to prove in a dispute, and it does not discharge the GDPR information obligations. For any commercial or substantial use, a written release is the standard.
Can a release be withdrawn?
GDPR consent can always be withdrawn, but withdrawal operates prospectively — uses already made remain valid. A contractual release under Italian law is more durable but still has limits. A well-drafted release states what withdrawal does and does not affect.
Does a US model release work in Italy?
Usually not, in full. The perpetual worldwide all-media formula sits badly with the Italian requirement that consent be specific, and standard US forms lack the GDPR layer entirely — no information notice, no retention period, no identified controller. For Italian material, use an Italian-law-compliant release.
What about celebrities and public figures?
Article 97 LDA permits use connected to their public role — politicians on official duty, athletes in competition. Use for unrelated commercial purposes, such as placing a celebrity image in advertising, requires a release and engages personality rights independently of copyright.
Who signs for a minor?
Those exercising parental responsibility, in practice both parents where both hold it. From age 14 a minor can consent on their own behalf for information society services, but for commercial production use obtaining both the minor’s agreement and parental consent is the safer course. Additional labour law rules apply to minor performers.
How long should releases be kept?
For the duration of the rights granted plus a margin for limitation periods — commonly five to ten years after the use rights expire. Where the work remains in long-term distribution, keep them for the life of the copyright in the underlying work.
What if the person depicted has died?
Heirs can enforce the image rights of a deceased person under the Italian personality rights framework. Commercial use, and above all AI-generated content using the likeness, will normally require heir consent.
Does a release need to cover AI?
Yes, expressly. A release signed before 2023 will not address AI training, modification or voice cloning, and silence is not construed in favour of the party seeking to rely on the grant. Treat AI training, AI modification and voice synthesis as three separate consents.
How DANDI supports production clients
DANDI.media drafts and reviews image releases for film and television productions, advertising campaigns, photography projects, stock libraries and AI-related uses:
- Release templates compliant with Italian image rights and the GDPR in the same document
- Adaptation of foreign forms — reworking US and UK releases for Italian material rather than replacing a whole production’s paperwork
- AI provisions — training, modification, voice cloning, deepfake prohibition and posthumous use
- Minor releases — parental consent, Italian family law and the Garante’s guidance
- Tax credit compliance — AI clauses under D.I. 225/2024 and D.I. 329/2024
- Remediation — where a production reaches delivery with releases missing or defective
- Disputes and enforcement
We work in English, Italian and French, and act regularly for foreign productions shooting in Italy and for foreign law firms needing Italian-law input on a wider clearance.
Book an initial consultation with Avv. Claudia Roggero.
Related guides
| Topic | Resource |
|---|---|
| Right to image: protecting your likeness | /en/right-to-image-how-to-protect-your-likeness-online-and-offline/ |
| Chain of title documents checklist | /en/chain-title-cot-basic-documents/ |
| Clearing copyrighted material | /en/clearing-copyrighted-material/ |
| Preventing image theft | /en/preventing-image-theft/ |
| AI photography and the Eldagsen case | /en/ai-artificial-intelligence-photography/ |
| Moral rights in Italy | /en/moral-right/ |
| Italian film tax credit | /en/italy-film-tax-credits/ |
| Copyright law in Italy and Europe | /en/copyright-law-italy-europe/ |
This guide states the position at the date above. Confirm current provisions before relying on it for a specific production.
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