On November 25, 2025, on the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women," the Chamber of Deputies unanimously gave final approval to the bill introducing the crime of "feminicide" (A.C. 2528), which had already been approved by the Senate on July 23, 2025 (under the designation A.S. 1433). The reform is part of a multi-year process aimed at recognizing the specificity of the crime of feminicide, and incorporates the guidelines and international instruments that require states to adopt specific legislative measures to contrast violence against women, including the CEDAW, the Istanbul Convention, the EU Directive 2024/1385/EU, and numerous judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

The text of the new Article 577-bis of the Criminal Code (Femicide) specifies that: "anyone who causes the death of a woman when the act is committed as an act of hatred or discrimination or abuse, or as an act of control or possession or domination because she is a woman, or in relation to the woman's refusal to establish or maintain an affective relationship, or as an act of limitation of her individual freedoms, is punished with life imprisonment."

The measure, which consists of 14 articles, also provides for:

• The introduction of a new aggravating circumstance in the field of domestic abuse, when the conduct is committed in the manner established for the crime of feminicide, and providing for the mandatory confiscation of assets used to commit the same crime;
• The presentation of an annual report by the Minister of Justice to the Chambers on the state of application of the rules on feminicide and constrasting violence against women;
• Important modifications to the Code of Criminal Procedure, including changes in court jurisdiction, precautionary measures, plea bargaining, rights and powers of entities and associations representing interests harmed by the crime, and rules for witness examination (in order to avoid any form of secondary victimization);
• The protection of orphans of feminicide in cases involving affective relationships.

The unanimous approval of the bill, which is expected to come into force as Law 181/2025 on December 17, 2025, reflects the urgency and centrality of the issue.