Mattarella signs the Infrastructure Decree: the parcel tax is postponed until 1 October

The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has signed the Infrastructure-PNRR decree, which was approved by the Council of Ministers last Monday. Following its promulgation, the text will be published in the Official Gazette to come into force. One of the measures – namely the postponement of the tax on small parcels – was introduced at the eleventh hour, just a few days before its (now averted) implementation, which would have coincided with the €3 European tariff on the same products.

The latter is due to come into force on 1 July and, to avoid a double charge, the Italian mini-tax (2 euros) has been postponed. The measure, included in the Infrastructure-PNRR decree, suspends the levy until 1 October, pending the introduction of the handling fee — the customs handling charge on which an agreement has already been reached at EU level and which all EU countries will have to apply by November. The mini-tax had been provided for in the 2026 Budget, at a time when neither the EU tariffs nor the decision to adopt a customs handling levy at EU level had yet been finalised; the subsequent postponement to 1 July was introduced by the fiscal decree (Decree-Law 38/2026), with estimated revenue of 122.5 million for 2026 and 245 million once fully implemented.

In recent days, there had been strong pressure from trade associations calling for the postponement, on the grounds that the levy — although not yet applied — had already led to a shift in customs clearance operations towards other Member States without a similar tax, in particular Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary, with the goods subsequently being transported by land to Italia. This shift is already quantifiable: in the first two months of the year, prior to the first postponement, traffic had fallen by 50 per cent. The suspension of the mini-tax now aims to prevent further losses in volume, which would have repercussions on the entire employment chain, at least until the European handling fee comes into force.

Among the measures added at the end is one concerning a simplified short-time working scheme for workers on construction sites and in the agricultural sector during extreme heat emergencies. From 1 July to 31 December 2026, construction and agricultural businesses will be able to access the CIG scheme for objectively unavoidable events linked to heatwaves – including a reduction in working hours of up to half – without having to meet the usual requirements and with exemption from the additional contribution.

The decree also contains a number of other measures. On the infrastructure front, it extends the deadline for the expropriation decrees relating to the Rome–Latina intermodal link and the Cisterna–Valmontone motorway to 3 August 2028, allocates 50.2 million for compensatory works on the Turin–Lyon line, and entrusts Sogin with the decommissioning of the Italian Navy’s ‘RTS-1 G. Galilei’ nuclear reactor.