Special Economic Zones (Sezs) are established with the aim of promoting the creation of favourable economic, financial and administrative conditions, which allow the development, in certain areas of Italy, of companies already existing, as well as the establishment of new companies in those areas.

Under Article 4, par. 2 of the Law-Decree dated 20 June 2017 as amended:

“SEZ is defined as a geographically delimited and clearly identified area, located within the State borders, also consisting of non-territorially adjacent areas as long as they have a functional economic nexus, and which includes at least one port area with the same characteristics required by the EU Regulation n. 1315, dated 11 December 2013, enacted by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, on the EU guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network  (TEN-T). For running economic and entrepreneurial activities, companies already operating and those that will set up in the SEZ can benefit from special conditions, in connection with the incremental nature of investments and business development actions”.

In Italy, the management as well as the establishment of SEZs are governed by the Article 4 of the Law-Decree n. 91/2017 as amended, most recently modified by the Law-Decree n. 77/2021 as amended (Article 57), which has reorganised the operating structure of SEZs, also with the purpose of implementing the measures provided for by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).