China's top legislature approved a China-Italy extradition treaty, on Dec 31, 2011.

The 21-article extradition treaty covers issues such as extradition obligations, offenses eligible for extradition, reasons that can and should be used to refuse extradition, rules on property transfer, and the settlement of disputes.

Authorized by the State Council, the Chinese negotiation team was made up of officials from various departments and started talks with the Italian side in May 2010 in Beijing.

After the two sides reached agreement on all of the articles, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and then-Italian Justice Minister Angelino Alfano signed the treaty on behalf of the two nations on Oct 7, 2010 in Rome.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, started to review the bill on Jan 1, 2012.