The Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) was established under Article 25 of the 1961 European Social Charter for the purpose of determining whether the legislation and practice of the States Parties are in conformity with the provisions of the European Social Charter, its Protocols and the European Social Charter (Revised) (ECS-R).

The European Social Charter is a Council of Europe treaty that guarantees fundamental social and economic rights as a counterpart to the European Convention on Human Rights, which refers to civil and political rights. It guarantees a wide range of human rights related to employment, housing, health, education, social protection and welfare. The Charter places specific emphasis on the protection of vulnerable people such as the elderly, children, people with disabilities and migrants. Italy ratified the European Social Charter in 1965 and the European Social Charter (revised) in 1999, accepting 97 of its 98 numbered paragraphs. The only provision not accepted concerns Article 25 ESC-R, which protects the right of workers to protection of their claims in case of employer insolvency. The CM decided in 2002 that states must also inform the ESC-R every five years on the status of protection of rights protected by the unaccepted provisions.

With reference to the analysis of the accepted provisions, the Italian government has so far submitted 21 annual reports on the application of the 1961 Charter and 18 on the application of the revised Charter, on the basis of which the Committee has adopted its annual conclusions about the state of protection of social rights in the country.

The European Committee of Social Rights consists of 15 independent experts elected by the Committee of Ministers for a six-year term renewable once. In addition to reviewing reports submitted by member states, the European Committee also makes use of the so-called collective complaints procedure provided for in the 1995 Optional Protocol to the Charter. The purpose of this procedure is to increase the effectiveness and impact of Charter measures and to strengthen the role of social partners and NGOs: it allows NGOs to submit direct complaints to the European Committee of Social Rights on possible situations of non-implementation of the Charter in countries that have ratified the Protocol. Through these enhanced oversight procedures, the Committee has been able to strengthen its monitoring of compliance with the European Social Charter by state parties.