Licence credits on construction sites for 800,000 companies

As of 1 October, these companies, whether they operate in corporate or individual form, will have to have a credit licence, which will be issued by the INL in telematic form, after certifying that they meet a number of requirements (see the questions and answers on the page).

The initial allocation is 30 credits, which can be increased up to a further 30 based on the company's seniority and lack of health and safety violations, and up to a further 40 for activities, investments or training undertaken by the company to increase safety.

Companies that already have the Soa qualification certificate 'in classification III or higher' are excluded from the credit licence requirement. This is the compulsory certification for companies that want to participate in the execution of public works with a value of 150,000 euro or more and - as of July 2023 - also for companies that execute works related to the superbonus, with a value of more than 516,000 euro.

To date, there are approximately 30,000 Soa-qualified companies, 6,000 of which are in classifications I and II. There are therefore approximately 24 thousand that will be exempt from the credit licence, because they have already been subject to economic and technical analysis by one of the 14 Soa 'certifying' bodies.

Companies in the construction sector account for 14% of the total number of companies registered in the Register. This incidence rises to 18.7% of enterprises in the region in Liguria, 16.2% in Emilia Romagna, 15.5% in Piedmont and 15.3% in Lombardy.

More than half of the enterprises in the sector (54.9%) are sole proprietorships. 32.8% (274,000) are capital companies, 9.29% partnerships (77,000). Cooperatives account for 2% (17,943). The region with the largest number of construction companies is Lombardy (144,029), followed by Lazio (83,522) and Campania (77,076).

The obligation to obtain a credit licence in order to be able to operate on construction sites is a measure adopted in the context of emersion, and is in fact part of the National Plan to combat undeclared work: in order to obtain the qualification, the company must prove its registration with the Chamber of Commerce, and a series of requirements, such as the continuity of contributions, which prove its existence and actual activity.

"This purpose of the credit licence," notes lawyer Matteo Benozzo, partner of B-Hse, a law firm specialising in environmental and safety law, "is certainly positive. Increasing the constraints on all companies, however, only makes sense if there are actually checks to demonstrate the regularity of the work on construction sites. That is, that the companies with the qualification then operate correctly, employ staff in order and so on'.

The credit system also rewards companies on the basis of their seniority in the register (recognising up to 10 credits for this). "This choice," adds lawyer Benozzo, "could penalise young companies that invest in security and could give equal guarantees.