Italy–USA Extradition Under the 1983 Treaty: Citizen Protections, Dual Criminality, and How Courts Decide

The Treaty on Extradition between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Italian Republic (Rome, 13 October 1983) is the primary legal instrument governing extradition between the two countries. The treaty uses a list approach (rather than dual criminality alone) to define extraditable offences, though dual criminality is required as a threshold condition. The list covers offences including murder, kidnapping, robbery, fraud, money laundering, narcotics, and computer crime, among others. An additional protocol supplements the treaty for specific categories.

In Italy, extradition proceedings are handled by the Court of Appeal (Corte d’appello) of the district where the person is located. The Court of Appeal examines the legal basis for extradition: whether the treaty applies, whether dual criminality is satisfied, whether the evidence (or, for some categories, a certified judicial determination) meets the standard required, and whether any bar applies. The Court of Appeal’s decision can be appealed to the Court of Cassation (Corte di cassazione) on points of law. After a final favourable judicial decision, the Minister of Justice makes the executive decision on surrender. The Minister has a residual discretion to refuse on grounds including political, humanitarian, or proportionality considerations.

The role of an INTERPOL Red Notice in Italy is to support provisional arrest pending the formal US request. Italian police can arrest an individual on the basis of a Red Notice and hold them for a defined period while the formal extradition request arrives. Once the formal request arrives, the Court of Appeal proceedings begin. Challenging the Red Notice through the CCF in parallel with Italian court proceedings is standard practice.

Article 26 of the Italian Constitution prohibits the extradition of Italian citizens except as expressly provided by international treaties. In the context of the Italy–USA Treaty of 1983, Article 4 of the Treaty reserves to each party the right to refuse extradition of its own nationals — and Italy consistently exercises this right. Italian nationals sought by the United States cannot be surrendered to the US under the treaty. This applies even where the Treaty would otherwise permit extradition on the merits.

The consequence: where a US extradition request targets an Italian national in Italy, Italy is obliged to submit the case to its own prosecuting authorities (aut dedere aut judicare — extradite or prosecute). Italian prosecutors will assess whether to initiate domestic proceedings on the basis of the US allegations. This process has produced varied outcomes depending on the nature of the offence, the availability of evidence, and the political context.

Italy’s protection for its nationals is significantly stronger than the UK’s position — the UK has no equivalent constitutional bar and has surrendered UK nationals to the US in multiple high-profile cases. See the comparison with Germany–USA extradition for another jurisdiction with a similar constitutional protection.

Italy and Germany share a constitutional prohibition on extraditing their nationals to non-EU states including the US. In both countries, dual criminality must be satisfied, and the requesting state must provide evidence meeting the domestic standard. Both countries have refused US requests where prison conditions or sentence disproportionality raised human rights concerns. The differences are procedural: Italy’s Court of Appeal system and Minister of Justice final decision versus Germany’s Higher Regional Court system, which is covered in detail on the Germany–USA extradition page.

A specific category of Italy–USA cases involves individuals who hold both Italian and another nationality — often US, UK, or a Latin American nationality — and who are located in Italy when a US extradition request arrives. The Italian nationality provides constitutional protection: the Italian court will examine whether the person qualifies as an Italian citizen, and if so, the extradition request will be refused and the case referred to Italian prosecutors.

This creates an important strategic consideration. An individual who is or may be eligible for Italian citizenship — whether by descent, marriage, or long-term residence — should explore the citizenship question at the earliest opportunity, as it fundamentally changes the legal framework applicable to a US extradition request directed at Italy. Our legal team advises on this intersection of citizenship law and extradition exposure.