I-v.4 Measures to provide financial help to cooperatives and urgent measures to protect employment levels

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3.5.4.I-v.4 Measures to provide financial help to cooperatives and urgent measures to protect employment levels
(Provvedimenti per il credito alla cooperazione e misure urgenti a salvaguardia dei livelli di occupazione)

3.5.4.1. Aim

Establishment of an operating fund to promote the development of cooperatives and of a special fund for interventions to protect employment levels

3.5.4.2. Legal basis

- Law 49 of 27.2.1985;

- Law 181 (Art. 10) of 15.5.1989;

- Decree-Law 195 of 1.3.1992;

- Decree-Law 325 of 1.7.1992;

- Law 59 of 31.1.1992;

- Decree-Law 148 of 20.5.1993, converted into Law 236 of 19.7.1993 (Art. 2).

3.5.4.3. Contents

The Law consists of two parts:

1. The creation of an operating fund (FONCOOPER) to promote and develop cooperatives within the special department "Cooperative Credits" at the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro from which low-interest loans will be provided for cooperative projects.

- Cooperatives must met the following conditions in order to be entitled for support:

- they must fulfil the statutory principles of mutuality;

- they must be registered in the prefectural list and the central register of cooperatives.

- Eligibility will be determined by the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.

- Housing cooperatives are not entitled to support.

- Financial support is available for the following purposes:

- The implementation of projects to raise productivity and/or promote employment by means of an extension to or modernisation of the productive plant; the realisation of projects to raise product value added, e.g. by improving quality, and to promote rational product distribution, etc.;

- restructuring or conversion of production plant.

2. Creating and administering a special employment maintenance fund: non-repayable grants from this fund are earmarked for cooperatives meeting certain conditions.

Resources from the fund can be granted to producer and worker cooperatives with employees in receipt of benefits from the Wage Compensation Fund (Cassa Integrazione Guadagni - CIG), cooperatives with employees from firms subject to the participation procedures of Royal Decree 267/42 or employees laid off due to plant closure or redundancy. The cooperatives in receipt of support must completely or partially safeguard the jobs of the firms in question by either taking over, renting or administering these firms, their subsidiaries or part of these firms' assets, or by founding a substitute firm.

In so doing, the cooperatives may take on other workers in receipt of benefits from the Wage Compensation Fund, although only to the extent absolutely necessary for their operations and to the extent that skilled and administrative personnel of legal entities are affected.

3.5.4.4. Financial resources

The rotation fund is endowed with LIT 120 billion, the special fund with LIT 70 billion for 1989, 1990 and 1991; an additional LIT 15 billion was made available for 1993

3.5.4.5. Institutional support

Ministry of Industry, Treasury and Ministry of Labour

3.5.4.6. Duration

The operating fund has been established for an unlimited period. The special fund was originally set up for a four-year period; recently, however, this was extended by a further three years (until 1994)

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