Government measures in key jurisdictions 3rd edition final - Flipbook - Page 72
Italy
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For the avoidance of doubt, the SACE’s guarantee is not available to companies which directly or
indirectly control (or are controlled by), pursuant to Article 2359 of the Italian Civil Code, a company
resident in a country or territory that is not cooperative for tax purposes (as identified in the
conclusions of the Council of European Union dated 18 February 2020). Companies with
“deteriorated” debt exposures, or “in difficulty” cannot benefit from this scheme.
: SMEs may postpone payment of principal and interest on any
loans. Revocable credit lines and factoring facilities cannot be revoked until 30 September 20 if the
SME sends relevant notice to creditors. As to the applicability criteria, the same criteria as per the
CSGF paragraph above will apply.
Employment The Italian Government introduced the following schemes
What financial
support is the
government
providing to
businesses and to
individuals on
employment
issues?
:
: if an employer must suspend employees from work since the business
activity has been suspended or reduced due to the Covid-19 emergency, it can apply for the
following social funds (wage subsidy schemes):
1.Cassa Integrazione Guadagni Ordinaria (CIGO): available to industrial companies staffed with
more than 15 employees.
2.Fondo d’Integrazione Salariale (FIS): available to non-industrial employers enrolled with
FIS that are staffed, as an average, with more than 5 employees.
3.Cassa Integrazione Guadagni in deroga (CIGD): available to all businesses, even very small ones,
that are not covered by CIGO/FIS. It is managed at a Regional level and so each Region has its own
procedure and bureaucracy.
Under the above schemes, which normally imply a consultation with the Trade Unions before being
implemented, employees who are suspended from work receive an allowance from the social security
authority (“
”) equal to 80% of the lost salary with a cap of €1,129 net per month. These schemes
can be used only in favour of employees who were already in force on 25 March 2020 and cover an
overall period of 18 weeks (14 of which can be used until 31 August, while the further 4 can be used
until 31 October 2020).
In parallel, the Italian Government introduced a temporary firing ban from 17 March until 17
August 2020 it is not possible to make employees redundant either on a collective or an
individual basis (some categories are excluded, such as executives or domestic employees).
Based on the above, for those employers that started using social plans since the beginning, i.e.
on 23 February, the 18 weeks covered by social plans will expire before the end of the firing ban
and this clearly leaves the door open to a series of rather complex implications.
By the way, based on the most recent updates it seems that the Italian Government is considering
to extend the firing ban as well as the social programs.
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Government measures in key jurisdictions