Edited by Francesca Tironi, Giulia Spalazzi and Lorenzo Vassalli
By means of Law No. 56 of April 29th, 2024, which was published in the Italian Official Gazette No. 100 of April 30th, 2024, and came into force on the following May 1st, the Decree-Law No. 19 of March 2nd, 2024 has been approved and converted into law.
Additional new provisions on tenders with repercussions in the field of labour law were introduced during the conversion into law, and notably:
- economic and regulatory treatment of the personnel employed in the performance of tenders or service agreements and in subcontracting: it has been expressly provided for the obligation for companies to provide the personnel, employed in the performance of tenders or service agreements and in subcontracting, with a treatment that is not lower overall than that provided for by the national and territorial collective agreement entered into by the trade unions of employees and employers that are comparatively more representative at national level applied in the sector and for the area strictly related to the activity that is the subject of the tender and subcontract.
Such a treatment equality was originally provided for only in relation to the economic terms and conditions of employment, but it has now been extended also to the regulatory treatment that will have to be equalized; - confirmation of the sharpening of the criminal and administrative sanctions framework: the tightening of the criminal and administrative sanctions framework has been confirmed, both against the supplier and the user, in cases of unlawful contracting and secondment and in cases of irregular and fraudulent supply of workmanship, providing that the amount of the proportional pecuniary penalties cannot, in any case, be lower than € 5,000 nor higher than € 50,000;
- new provisions on occupational health and safety: it is worth recalling how Law Decree no. 19/2024 had replaced Article 27 of Legislative Decree no. 81/2008 with the introduction of a new qualification system for companies and self-employed workers by means of points, providing, for companies and self-employed workers operating at temporary or mobile construction sites, the obligation, as of October 1st, 2024, to possess the so-called “points license”.
The conversion law specified that those who carry out mere supplies or services of an intellectual nature or who hold an equivalent document issued by another State are excluded from this obligation. In addition to this, the conditions for issuing the license also include the designation of the person responsible for the prevention and protection service (the so-called “RSPP”); - self-certification of the points license: the conversion law also established the possibility that the possession of the requirements to obtain the issuance of a license may be self-certified, with the license being revoked in the event of an untruthful declaration on the existence of the aforementioned requirements, ascertained during the post-issuance checks, with the possibility for the company or self-employed person to request, twelve months after the revocation, the issuance of a new license;
- the initial score of the points license: as provided for in the original version of Decree-Law No. 19/2024, the license under consideration is endowed with an initial score of no. 30 points and allows to operate on mobile and temporary construction sites with an endowment of 15 points or more. The conversion law has provided for the possibility of awarding additional points with respect to the initial score, on the basis of the procedures that will be identified by a special decree of the Italian Minister of Labour and Social Policies, after consulting the Italian Labour Inspectorate, which will also identify the awarding criteria and the procedures for recovering the points deducted;
- completion of activities in the event of loss of the necessary points: the conversion law confirmed the circumstance that a license with less than fifteen points does not allow companies and self-employed workers to operate on temporary or mobile construction sites. However, for cases in which companies and self-employed persons do not have this minimum number of points but the work has already been started by them, the possibility of completing the contracted or subcontracted work in execution has been introduced, provided that the value of the work performed exceeds 30% of the overall contract value;
- harsher sanctions regarding the points license: the conversion law has provided for harsher sanctions for companies and self-employed workers without a license or equivalent document or operating with a license with a score of less than fifteen points. Instead of the sanction originally envisaged by Law Decree No. 19/2024 (which ranged between €6,000 and €12,000), an administrative sanction equal to 10% of the value of the whole contract and, in any case, not less than €6,000 has been imposed, with the exclusion from participation in public works referred to in Legislative Decree No. 36 of 31 March 2023 being confirmed for a period of six months.
The following provisions contained in Decree-Law No. 19/2024 of March 2nd, 2024 (for the relevant details please refer to the previous Newsletter linked above) were confirmed when it was converted into law:
- The increase in the amounts of sanctions in the field of labour and social legislation, equal to 30%, in cases of hiring employees without prior notification of the establishment of the employment relationship by the private employer. Similarly, the 20% increase in sanctions relating to violations of the provisions of Article 18 of Legislative Decree No. 276/2003 (supply of workmanship), Article 12 of Legislative Decree No. 136/2016 (posting of employees), and Article 18-bis, paragraphs 3 and 4, of Legislative Decree No. 66/2003 (working hours) remains confirmed.
- The introduction of custodial criminal sanctions for cases of unauthorized exercise of supply of workmanship, both with reference to the provider and the user.
- The obligations relating to the adequacy checks of the cost of labour to be carried out prior to the payment of the final balance of the price for public or private contracts for the execution of construction works.
- The issuance of the certificate, with the related registration of the employer who does not object to this in the computerized list known as the “INL compliance list”, in the event that no violations or irregularities of the company are detected following inspections in the field of labour and social legislation, including the protection of health and safety in the workplace.
- Measures to strengthen the activity of ascertaining and combating violations in the field of contributions.
- The provisions on regulatory and contributory benefits, both with reference to cases of non-compliance with labour and social legislation, and to cases of subsequent regularization of contribution and insurance obligations as well as of further violations ascertained, within certain deadlines.
- Provisions on irregular domestic work.
- Measures to strengthen/reinforce inspection and supervisory staff in the field of labour, social legislation and safety at work (INL, Carabinieri Nucleus, INPS and INAIL) for checks on the Italian territory.
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