Any legislative act - laws adopted by Parliament, including in the form of decree-laws or legislative decrees - may have a content that falls within the scope of the protection of fundamental human rights or may have an impact on such rights. 

The laws that are reported in this Italian Yearbook of Human Rights may be, from this point of view:

1. legislative acts concerning human rights of general scope (for example, ratifications of international human rights treaties also of general scope) 
2. legislative acts concerning specific human rights issues (e.g. laws introducing new crimes or intervening in the areas of health, labour, environment, immigration, etc.) 
3. legislative acts concerning the protection of the human rights of particular groups (e.g. minors, persons with disabilities, minorities, women, refugees, etc.). 

A similar approach is followed for the reporting of regional and autonomous province laws. Considering the current legislative competencies of regional authorities, the subjects monitored in this yearbook concern, among other things, equal opportunities, development cooperation, fair trade, integration of immigrants, civic defence, children's rights, rights of persons deprived of their liberty, minority rights, rights of persons with disabilities, solidarity, social promotion, family assistance, citizenship and legality education.

Increasingly, the subject of human rights is influenced by European Union regulations, directives and decisions. Since Law No. 234 of 24 December 2012, the adaptation of the Italian legal system to the European one takes place through two legislative instruments: the European law and the European delegation law. While the former contains rules for the direct implementation of EU law and is aimed at remedying cases of incorrect transposition of European legislation, the latter contains the delegation provisions necessary for the transposition of directives and other EU acts. Areas such as immigration and asylum, non-discrimination, environment, privacy and protection of personal data, human rights and new technologies are profoundly affected by EU rules.

Finally, the Yearbook also points out the adoption by local authorities (Municipalities and Provinces) of statutory provisions that reproduce, in a more or less complete form, the so-called ‘peace of human rights’ norm, a provision elaborated in the 1980s, originally contained in Article 1 of Veneto Regional Law 18/1988 (now updated by Veneto Regional Law 21/2018), and since then included in the statutes of numerous Italian local and regional authorities. The standard text reads: ‘The Municipality ... (the Province ... the Region ...), in accordance with constitutional principles and international norms that recognise the innate rights of human persons, sanction the repudiation of war as a means of settling international disputes and promote cooperation among peoples, recognises peace as a fundamental right of the individual and of peoples. To this end, the Municipality ... (the Province ... the Region ...) promotes the culture of peace and human rights through cultural initiatives and research, education, cooperation and information aimed at making the Municipality a land of peace. The Municipality ... (the Province ... the Region ...) shall take direct initiatives and promote those of cultural and educational institutions, associations, voluntary groups and international cooperation groups.