Selling to Italy from the USA: VAT representative, CONAI and labelling rules for non-EU sellers

Italy sets its own rules for VAT representation, packaging, electronics, batteries and product-safety fines, on top of the EU rules in EU VAT for online sellers and EPR in the EU, and in the GPSR. This page covers what Italy adds. Each row in the table links to its EU rule.

VAT runs through a representative resident in Italy

A business with no permanent establishment in Italy meets its VAT duties directly, if it is identified, or through a representative resident in Italy (DPR 633/1972 art. 17(3)). The representative answers jointly with you. The Testo unico IVA (D.Lgs. 10/2026) renumbers this rule as art. 64(3) from 1 January 2027 (art. 171); until then the DPR applies.

Direct identification, with form ANR/3, is open only to a business operating in another EU state or in a third country with a mutual-assistance instrument on indirect tax (DPR 633/1972 art. 35-ter(5); art. 70(5) of the Testo unico IVA from 2027). The Agenzia delle Entrate page of 24 February 2026 offers it as the alternative to EU and EEA states. A UK business may identify directly instead of appointing a representative (Risoluzione 7/E, 2021). For the United States no text read says so.

A business outside the EU and the EEA that uses a representative and wants its number in VIES, for intra-EU trade, gives a guarantee of at least EUR 50,000, held for at least 36 months (DPR 633/1972 art. 35(7-quater); Agenzia provvedimento of 14 April 2025; art. 68(10) of the Testo unico IVA from 2027). The EU rules on representatives are in fiscal representative. The Italian procedure, the guarantees, the returns and the fines are in Italy VAT tax representative.

Packaging goes through CONAI and a national register

Producers and users of packaging take part in CONAI unless they run an own system (D.Lgs. 152/2006 art. 221(2), (3)). A business outside the EU that ships straight to Italian buyers is the producer in Italy under the PPWR since 12 August 2026, and CONAI says membership is voluntary for foreign companies; see Italy packaging EPR. Every EPR producer is also meant to register in the Registro nazionale dei produttori, but RENAP has no packaging register open yet. A producer seated in another EU state designates an authorised representative established in Italy (art. 178-ter(8)). A producer selling through a platform may use the platform EPR service where one has been set up (art. 178-quater(3)). The EU side is in packaging EPR and the EPR authorised representative.

Producers must put the material code of Decision 97/129/EC on every pack, and a pack sold to consumers carries a collection instruction, in print or through a digital channel (art. 219(5) for the code; the MASE guidelines for the instruction and the digital channel; see Italy packaging labelling). The EU label of the PPWR Art. 12 applies no earlier than 12 August 2028. No Italian text read sets an end date for art. 219(5); CONAI’s own notice says the current Italian labelling may be kept until 11 August 2028 (CONAI).

Electronics and batteries have their own registers

A business in another country that sells electrical equipment to Italian buyers by distance sale is a producer and registers in the Registro AEE before it starts (D.Lgs. 49/2014 art. 4(1)(g)(4), 29). A producer not established in Italy registers through its own representative in Italy, which takes on all the duties (DM 185/2007 art. 3(1)). See WEEE registration and WEEE in Italy.

Batteries moved to a new law on 7 March 2026. D.Lgs. 29/2026 repealed D.Lgs. 188/2008, except its art. 29, keeping its register articles until the new register is implemented (art. 37(1)(d)), and created the Registro dei produttori di batterie. The old register stays active until the new one is fully implemented (art. 35(4)); when it opens, every producer files again within 60 days (art. 20(10)). A seller that offers batteries at a distance shows its registration number on its website (art. 20(7)). A distance seller outside Italy also appoints an EPR authorised representative in Italy (Batteries Regulation Art. 56(3)). See the Battery Regulation and Italy battery registration.

Product-safety penalties were rewritten on 16 May 2026

D.Lgs. 8 April 2026 n. 78 rewrote Codice del consumo art. 112. It sets arrest of six months to one year and an ammenda of EUR 10,000 to 100,000 for a dangerous product. The other penalties are in the table above. Market surveillance and control authorities find the violations. Art. 112(6) says the sanctions are imposed by the chamber of commerce competent for the territory; arrest and the ammenda are criminal penalties (Codice penale art. 17). The EU rules are in GPSR fines. What Italy adds, with the authority for your product and the language rule, is in Italy product safety.

What the texts read leave open

The packaging representative clause (art. 178-ter(8)) names EU-seated producers. No Italian text read requires a representative from a packaging producer outside the EU; PPWR Art. 45(3), first sentence, names producers established in a third country, and its recital reads that case as a national option. Electrical equipment and batteries have their own representative rules, above. No text read says whether the United States has a mutual-assistance instrument with Italy for direct VAT identification.