ABSTRACT – On 2 January 2023, the Italian Government adopted Decree-Law No. 1/2023 and reformed the national legislation about search and rescue operations at sea. The decree-law extended the Government’s power to implement measures to prohibit the entry or the stopover in territorial waters of the vessels engaged in SAR operations. The intent of the reform is to prevent a vessel that has already rescued people from rescuing others. The aim of this analysis is to underline the main critical aspects raised by the new legislation, concerning, on the one hand, the respect of the duty to rescue at sea, and, on the other hand its compatibility with the obligations that EU law imposes on Member States towards asylum seekers .
