The National Chamber of Italian Fashion ( CNMI) has requested a hearing with the Budget Commission of the Chamber of Deputies to present its proposals regarding the budget law that is currently being drafted. The issues on which the CNMI proposals focus arise from pressing needs of the sector already brought to the attention of the government's administrative bodies in the recent past through various working groups.

Emphasis has been placed on the following points among the proposals that have materialized, and President Capasa tends to underline and give urgency to the delicate issue of the production chain, the so-called "supply chain."

1. Spontaneous repayment of the Tax Credit relating to the years 2015-2019 for the research and development activities of Fashion Companies. The text we proposed as an amendment (repayment, deferred over 10 years, of 30% of the credit brought into compensation) was created to guarantee the State a safe and significant recovery of revenue since these conditions would be the most suitable to guarantee the procedure of spontaneous transfer of the R&D Tax Credit by companies in the sector, avoiding creating a huge dispute and avoiding the risk of closure of many small and medium-sized companies.

1. Spontaneous repayment of the Tax Credit relating to the years 2015-2019 for the research and development activities of Fashion Companies. The text we proposed as an amendment (repayment, deferred over 10 years, of 30% of the credit brought into compensation) was created to guarantee the State a safe and significant recovery of revenue since these conditions would be the most suitable to guarantee the procedure of spontaneous transfer of the R&D Tax Credit by companies in the sector, avoiding creating a huge dispute and avoiding the risk of closure of many small and medium-sized companies.

3. Corporate Welfare. The objective of this regulatory proposal is to encourage and strengthen the concession, by companies, of goods, resources, services, works, and services to their employees, to reduce the contribution and tax burden compared to what would be the case with the attribution of monetary compensation to them and thus transmit a strong incentive and loyalty boost to workers. Therefore, in terms of corporate welfare, CNMI proposes, for the 2025 tax period, the raising and stabilization of the so-called thresholds. “fringe benefits” of 4,000 and 3,000 euros respectively for employees with and without children.

4. Certification for the control of the production chain of fashion companies. CNMI has been fighting on this topic for the longest time: "We are formulating a legislative proposal, added Capasa, which has value throughout the national territory and which provides for the establishment of a third-party certification for all companies operating in the fashion industry."

5. Fund for the international diffusion of the values ​​and image of fashion, of Italian "beautiful and well-made", through direct contributions from Camera Moda and the implementation of relevant initiatives having a resonance that goes beyond national borders.

6. Strengthening of the Ordinary Redundancy Fund with the recognition of eight weeks of redundancy fund, as an exception for the tax period, to companies in the sector with fewer than 15 employees.

7. Encourage investments by brands in manufacturing companies in the supply chain in difficulty for the survival of all those artisan-manufacturing realities, which are currently in a state of difficulty, for the reasons described in the previous points, and which constitute fundamental structures of the fashion supply chain. The volumes of Italian fashion companies, in the first 6 months of 2024, suffered a decrease in overall turnover, in the textile, footwear, and bags sector, of more than 5% compared to last year, with strong repercussions on the entire supply chain. Therefore, CNMI, precisely to ensure the continuity of the Fashion Supply Chain and safeguard, in addition to the employment of thousands of workers, the "artisan-manufacturing know-how", proposes to include in the Budget Law a regulatory provision that facilitates and facilitates, where requested by SMEs in difficulty, any minority shareholdings and pure support of national fashion brands to the capital of artisan - manufacturing companies in the sector currently in difficulty.

Carlo Capasa, President of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, while waiting for the hearing, not only hopes that the Budget Law can accept the proposals developed in favor of the crucial so-called "Made in Italy" sector but that the collaboration between companies in the sector and the Government can promote "a necessary and immediate restart of a crucial sector for the economy of our country".

Photo: Carlo Capasa @dfphoto