The dance of the amendments continues, but little by little the decree on liberalization is assuming its definite physiognomy. While the Senate commissions continue to file the text, the conference of group leaders of Palazzo Madama has established that the provision will be to be examined by the Chamber from 29 February, while the green light is expected on March 2nd. At that point the ball will pass to the House.
Although Prime Minister Mario Monti has repeated several times that the changes to the text approved by the Council of Ministers will have to be minimal, surprises are not lacking. To hold court is once again the endless disputes over the licenses of taxi drivers, who finally got their way as always. Other innovations with a decidedly greater impact on citizens' lives are those concerning insurance and current accounts for pensioners. Now let's see in detail what are the main amendments approved for the liberalization decree:
AUTO TPL, NO REFUNDS FOR MINOR INJURIES
The lumbago becomes just a painful ache again. In the eyes of her insurance companies, her value will be zero, as will all so-called "minor injuries“, i.e. those that cannot be demonstrated with an objective clinical examination. By saying goodbye to these (very widespread) reparations, Parliament satisfies a long-standing request from ANIA.
Also on the insurance front, two new databases will be created for the fight against motor liability fraud: one for witnesses and one for injured parties. The new arrivals will be added to the database of claims managed by Isvap. In addition, the penalties are being increased for those who try to defraud companies with the same old tricks: damage to an insured property, self-mutilation... In all these cases, the minimum sentence goes from six months to one year and the maximum from four years to five years .
PENSIONERS: FREE CURRENT ACCOUNTS UP TO 1.500 EUROS
One of the most unfair measures of the liberalization decree was the one which – in the name of the traceability of payments – effectively forced pensioners to open a bank account to receive salaries. The good news is that on these accounts you will not have to pay any commission, nor costs of opening or management. An exemption which, however, will not concern everyone, but only pensioners who receive a check of up to 1.500 euros per month.
BANKS: REDUCED COMMISSIONS FOR MERCHANTS
We are moving towards a reduction in the commissions charged to the merchants. The amendment provides that the ABI, the associations of payment service providers, the Italian Post Office, the Bancomat Consortium, the companies that manage payment circuits and the most significant business associations at national level "define, by 2012 June XNUMX , and apply the general rules within the following three months to ensure the reduction of commissions charged to merchants for transactions made with credit or debit cards.
TAXI, EVERYTHING GOES BACK TO THE MAYORS
The new Transport Authority is ousted even before being born. You will not decide the number of licenses and tariff levels, but, again, the mayors. everything as before, in short. The Authority will have a simple supervisory role, but his opinion will still remain non-binding. Also stop the duplicate licenses for those who already have one: the new ones will all be assigned by competition.
FOUNDATIONS: TOWARDS STRICT GOVERNANCE CRITERIA
Among the principles with which the statutes of foundations must comply, a new one is inserted: "Provision, among the hypotheses of incompatibility, of the assumption or exercise of offices in management, supervisory and control bodies or management functions of companies competitors of the transferee banking company or of its group companies". The aim is to prevent multi-offices in foundations and between foundations and banks.
As regards the choice of the members of the guidance body, the methods of designation and appointment must be "inspired by objective and transparent criteria, based on the enhancement of the principles of integrity and professionalism".
