3 Introduction Italy deems that international law is applicable to cyberspace and considers it the existing legal discipline and a fundamental tool for assuring responsible State behaviour in cyberspace. This is in line with Italy’s unyielding support to the rule of law both at the international and domestic levels, to a rules-based international order and cooperation and, more generally, to compliance with international law. Italy thus concurs with the conclusions reached by the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) and by the Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) that was established in 2019, according to which ‘international law and in particular the Charter of the United Nations in its entirety, is applicable and is essential to maintaining peace and stability and promoting an open, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful ICT environment’.1 While the work of the GGE primarily addressed issues of international peace and security, Italy considers that the concept of international peace and security goes beyond a merely military connotation. Accordingly, Italy finds that the rules and principles of international law – be they customary or treaty-based – applicable to activities in cyberspace are not limited to those pertaining to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations. While Italy has no doubt as to whether international law applies to the cyberspace, it is aware that how existing rules and principles of international law apply gives rise to significant difficulties inherent in the technical features of cyberspace. Such difficulties require responses that the international community is currently developing. Italy thus welcomes and supports the ongoing process of exchange of views, study and cooperation amongst States to that end. In this paper2, Italy presents its non-exhaustive views on a number of discrete issues concerning the application of international law to cyberspace. The following topics will be considered in turn: the protection of sovereignty in cyberspace and violations of the principle of nonintervention; the application of the law of the international responsibility of States to activities 1 2013 Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, UN Doc. A/68/98, 24 June 2013, para.20; 2015 Report of the Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field of Information and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security, UN Doc. A/70/174, 22 July 2015, para. 24.; 2021 Open-ended working group on developments in the field of information and telecommunications technologies in the context of international security; UN Doc A/75/816, para 7. 2 This paper has been prepared by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation together with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Defence and has been completed in the month of September 2021.