Italy's Assembly approved yesterday several amendments to bill that would limit the use of wiretaps during police investigations and would ban media from publishing transcriptions of these conversations, Reuters reported.

One of the major changes is that newspapers will be allowed to publish transcripts "when considered relevant by investigating magistrates," Il Sole 24 Ore noted.

However, editors who run "irrelevant" transcripts or records of conversation set to be destroyed after an investigation will face heavy fines.

Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who proposed this law to protect the privacy, was not happy about the modifications.

"The wiretaps law will change little from the current situation, and therefore will not allow Italians to speak freely on the phone," he said, The Guardian quoted.

Now, the bill is expected to be voted, article-by-article, on July 29.