To ensure the adequacy of their electricity system, EU Member States can implement capacity markets at national level. In such case, they must account for the imports’ contribution to their national adequacy. European legislation mandates explicit cross-border participation. This rule consists in allowing non-domestic resources to participate in the same capacity auctions as domestic resources. The objective of such regulation is, first, to respect the non-discrimination principle, and, second, to address the potential distortions arising from national market designs’ heterogeneity. However, the Italian experience with explicit cross-border participation and a recent modelling analysis suggest that the introduction of explicit cross-border participation is not necessarily efficient. The development of a European approach to system adequacy is likely to be the way forward over the long term.