To ensure the survival of the craft businesses, the bill under discussion in the Senate Industry Commission aims first of all to train and financially help young people interested in taking over craft businesses. Various actions are envisaged for this purpose: from the orientation of young people, interested in starting and taking over a craft business, to the identification of businesses and crafts available for generational transfer; from the creation of an "artisan initiative exchange" (as a meeting place between supply and demand, dedicated to master craftsmen interested in selling their business and young people interested in acquiring it) to the selection and training of young people suitable to work alongside a master craftsman acting as a mentor; from support for the so-called "school shops" to loans for business start-up costs as well as participation in the financial guarantee for interest or capital account loans, through credit consortia.
The provision provides that the individual municipalities must carry out a special census of the so-called "living human treasures", i.e. a list of artistic and historical workshops and crafts, which will be periodically updated and transmitted to the respective regions.
The training activities aimed at young people interested in craft activities involve carrying out an internship or a form of school-work alternation at a craft company, in order to acquire theoretical-practical training. The Regions will set up "school workshops" as a means of training and meeting between young students, jobseekers and artisan workshops.
Those who intend to take over an artisan company through the company generational transfer procedures will be able to access, at the end of the in-company training phase, a specific incentive, in the form of a loan of honor, repayable in five years. The honor loan is intended to support the start-up, investment and operating expenses relating to the first three years of activity.
As part of the regional training programmes, based on local needs, certified training courses are envisaged for individuals up to thirty-five years of age, who apply for the takeover of craft businesses. The Regions will be able to evaluate whether to provide special training vouchers in favor of subjects who participate in training activities, which can be integrated with a state contribution. A state guarantee is envisaged on loans up to a maximum amount of 25.000 euros.
The new activities started, following the generational transfer of an artisan company, will also be exempt from the Irap and Irpef tax, for the first three years.
