🇮🇹 Italy → 🇦🇱 Albania

For offences that provide for “thresholds” of punishability, the requirement of double criminality does not entail exact correspondence between the statutory definitions or the legal treatment of the offence, but only that the conduct be punishable under criminal law in both jurisdictions for the same underlying facts. That said, the blood alcohol level detected is below the threshold which, under Italian law, qualifies driving as a criminal offence. It follows that the conduct for which the requested person was convicted by the Albanian judicial authorities—contrary to what was held by the Naples Court of Appeal—would not have criminal relevance in Italy, being, at most, punishable only as an administrative offence. Accordingly, the requirement of double criminality is not satisfied.

Double criminality: it is not necessary that the abstract structure of the offence under the foreign legal system finds an exact counterpart in a provision of the Italian legal system; it is sufficient that the specific conduct is punishable as a criminal offence under both systems. Any differences—whether in terms of penalties, legal classification, or the constituent elements required for the offence—are irrelevant. Likewise, it is immaterial that, under Italian law, prosecution is subject to a complaint, or that the conduct may qualify as particularly minor pursuant to Article 131-bis of the Italian Criminal Code, or that the offence has been extinguished due to reparatory conduct. The assessment must focus solely on whether the conduct is classified as a criminal offence in both legal systems.