Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Over 3 thousand businesses active in the 94 weekly markets were involved, as well as kiosks and newsstands 
Tajani: "Let's start a procedure that will allow us to verify the suitability of operators, recover the pending Cosap fees and reorganize the city's open markets as best as possible" 

Milan, 1 January 2021 – More modern markets and increasingly qualified operators compliant with occupancy fees. The guidelines for proceeding with the renewal of the concessions for the exercise of commercial activities in public areas at the weekly open-air markets, extra-market stands and newsstands have been approved by the Council. 

“Thanks to the launch of this overall renewal, verification and monitoring action – explains the councilor for Productive Activities and Commerce Cristina Tajani – we are able to simultaneously achieve three important objectives for the Administration: to have increasingly qualified operators who have all the moral and professional requirements to operate on the 94 city markets, recover the Cosap arrears accumulated in recent years, initiate a radical reorganization and optimization of the market areas to reconcile the needs of operators and residents, guaranteeing the Milanese more modern, efficient and harmony with the social and economic development of individual neighborhoods".

The procedure for verifying and renewing the current concessions by the Administration is in continuity with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Economic Development in November 2020 and the subsequent implementing provisions prepared by the Lombardy Region.

Approximately 3 thousand companies currently holding parking concessions in the city are affected by the renewal procedures. Stands which are divided as follows: 8.600 at the 94 weekly outdoor markets (3.558 food stands and 5.042 non-food), 549 extra-market stands divided between kiosks, perches and isolated stands, 250 stands for the resale of newspapers and periodicals.

To guarantee a fast information collection process, which protects the health of operators by avoiding unnecessary gatherings at the relevant offices, the Administration has set up a totally digital procedure on the portal www.impresainungiorno.gov.it where you can find the information and forms needed to request renewal. The declarations must be sent starting from 12 January 2021 and until 31 March 2021.

The Administration has expressly linked the renewal of the concessions to the absence of debts towards the Municipality of Milan, in particular the payments of Cosap fees from 2013 to 2019, in order to recover the outstanding amounts from the defaulting operators. Delinquencies which total approximately 3 million euros. During the renewal procedure, companies will be given the opportunity to regularize their debt positions in the manner provided for by municipal regulations. Furthermore, for newsstands, kiosks and perches, the Administration will condition the release of the new concessions also on the favorable outcome of appropriate checks and controls on the structural conditions of the buildings hosting these activities so as to also guarantee urban decorum.

The renewal of the concessions and the collection of all the operators' data will allow, in the case of a possible elimination of concessions and related stands, to also proceed with an overall reorganization and optimization of the market areas, making them more usable and reducing their overall size also through the merger or transfer of any affected markets. A useful action to reconcile the needs of operators with those of citizens and residents thanks to open markets that are increasingly usable and in line with modern lifestyles and the economic and social development of the city's neighborhoods.

From Thursday 31 December, the public notice for the start of the renewal of operator concessions can be consulted on the pages of the municipal portal at the link web.comune.milano.it