Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Tajani: "A useful measure to protect the good intentions of citizens who, with their small gestures, support many solidarity, charity and research initiatives every year"

Milan, October 2 2019 - Milan is increasingly attentive to protecting the gestures of solidarity of its citizens, protecting them from scams and possible scams. With 28 votes in favor, 2 abstentions and no against, the "Municipal plan for the regulation of sales for solidarity purposes" was approved today by the City Council. The provision aims to identify the places, times and characteristics of non-commercial entities that can carry out this type of activity in order to support solidarity or research initiatives. 
“Thanks to this provision, wanted by the Administration and supported by the work of the entire City Council, we want to protect the good intentions of citizens who, with their small gestures, every year, support many solidarity, charity and research initiatives”. Thus the councilor for Labor Policies, Productive Activities and Commerce Cristina Tajani who continues: "provision which clearly regulates the times, places and methods with which to support research and the various solidarity associations, protecting the Milanese from scams and scams".
"New rules which have as their main objectives those of greater protection of the citizen towards entities that carry out charitable and fundraising activities; the correct coexistence between trade in a fixed or itinerant location and the activities covered by the regulation, avoiding excessive concentration of promotional activities in the vicinity of shops with similar product categories. To this end, we listened to all the interested parties starting from the trade associations and collected proposals, critical issues and observations to formulate a suitable plan to protect citizens, merchants and entities through certain rules which, from now on, we can dispose of". This is what councilor Laura Specchio, President of the Commission for Policies for Labour, Productive Activities and Commerce, comments.
Specifically, the plan identifies as "sales for solidarity purposes" the activities in which non-commercial entities such as non-profit organisations, voluntary organisations, non-profit associations, civil protection associations, family associations, social cooperatives, association bodies, directly or through their staff or volunteers, offer goods to the public in exchange for a free offering, even a predetermined minimum amount, allocating such proceeds exclusively for charitable purposes, to support charitable, solidarity or research initiatives. Activity that can take place both on public land and in a private area.
The object of the transfers may be non-perishable packaged food products that do not require particular conservation treatments, with the exclusion of spirits as well as non-food products of any type with the exclusion of weapons, medicines, tobacco and smoking products. The goods in question must be of modest value but above all they must be sold exclusively in bulk and not by measure.
The Administration, taking into account the characteristics of the municipal territory, its commercial density and the intensity of public flows, has identified 53 areas in which fundraising actions can be carried out, favoring the chances of success of the initiatives without however diverting resources to the commercial activities present on site. Fundraising activities can take place from 8 am to 22 pm for a period not exceeding two days, with a minimum interval of 30 days between one initiative and another, carried out by the same person. The two-day limit can only be exceeded in the case of fundraisers aimed at supporting emergencies due to extraordinary calamitous winds. Each promoter will be able to carry out a maximum of six fundraising initiatives for each calendar year in order to guarantee the right turnover between the different entities present in the city. 
To better protect the gestures of solidarity made by citizens, for the entire duration of the initiative the organizers will have to display clear signs that report not only the name of the promoting body but also the purpose pursued with the fundraising as well as the wording "free offer", possibly predetermined in the minimum amount. Finally, if the fundraising activity takes place in a public area, this cannot exceed 9 square meters and can only be occupied with a banquet or an ecru/ivory gazebo as required by the regulation governing trade in public areas .