On 26 June 2025, Italy’s Vicenza province court delivered a landmark ruling in the Miteni PFAS case. The case involves a chemical plant in Trissino, Italy, that released harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into the environment from the 1960s until 2013. Public prosecutors and civil plaintiffs are seeking over €100 million in damages. These claims cover environmental damage, public health costs, and compensation for affected residents and municipalities in the Veneto region. The court convicted 11 former executives of environmental disaster and public water poisoning, marking a first-of-its-kind judgment that has drawn national attention to the need for regulatory accountability.
The landmark ruling has sent a strong signal across Italy regarding PFAS water contamination, but the country is still in the early stages of addressing related challenges. Italy lacks a national inventory of PFAS-impacted sites, a unified monitoring program, and is not fully compliant with the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, even for conventional pollutants. As the country has no PFAS-specific water regulation, the Miteni plant convictions relied on existing broader environmental protection laws and criminal code provisions for environmental disaster. This regulatory gap presents both challenges and opportunities for remediation solutions providers in Italy.
