ROME (ITALPRESS) – “The introduction also in the private sector of a 5 percent cap on commissions paid by merchants to meal voucher issuers, whose discussion opens tomorrow, could have dramatic consequences for competition, the sector and also for workers.” So says Matteo Orlandini president of ANSEB (National Association of Meal Voucher Issuing Companies), regarding the Competition bill that goes to the House for discussion on November 19.
“The same measure introduced in 2022 for contracts in the public sector led to an increase in the cost of meal vouchers for the public administration of about 100 million euros,” ANSEB explains. The same thing could happen in the private sector where companies would find higher costs of at least 6 percent (differential between the current average commission of 11 percent, calculated by Fipe, and future averages), an amount estimated at 180 million annually, or 153 euros per year per worker.”
“This measure would weaken a valuable welfare tool for workers and undermine a 4-billion-euro market, which has grown in recent years both in terms of digitization and in the amount of operators active in offering welfare products at market prices,” Orlandini continues. “We want to continue to operate in a free market, which is why we say no to protectionist measures. We open to a new season of bargaining between private parties also, and above all, in defense of the interests of small businesses. If this was not the intention, at least review the timing of the measure’s introduction without blowing up agreements with 150,000 companies and 170,000 merchants, forcing them to put their hands on more than 300,000 contracts with immediate consequences on the usability of meal vouchers,” concludes the ANSEB president.
– IPA Agency Photos –
(ITALPRESS).
