Agreement between the Ministry of Labour and the CNEL: the archive of company and regional collective agreements is launched
Second-level agreements – those signed within companies or at local level – will thus be brought together in a single public portal, accessible online via a web application provided by the CNEL
The Ministry of Labour and the CNEL have signed the institutional agreement provided for by Decree-Law No. 62 of 30 April 2026 (the so-called ‘May Day Decree’) on employment contracts. The Ministry of Labour announced this in a statement, explaining that this is one of the first operational measures under the new regulatory framework and the first step towards the simplified identification of the Total Remuneration Package (TEC) in collective agreements.
Archive at the CNEL
The agreement establishes, within the CNEL, an administrative archive of company and regional collective agreements filed with the Ministry. The new archive will form part of the National Archive of Collective Labour Agreements and Contracts, managed by the CNEL pursuant to Article 17 of Law No. 936 of 1986, the ‘Mattarella Law’, which marks its fortieth anniversary this year.
Public authorities will exchange the necessary information in an interoperable manner, via the National Digital Data Platform and in full compliance with IT security standards and personal data protection regulations: second-level contracts – those signed within companies or at a local level – will thus be consolidated into a single public access point, which can be consulted online via a web application provided by the CNEL. No data relating to individuals will be exchanged or processed.
Calderone: ‘Agreement consolidates the regulatory framework established by the 1 May decree’
“This agreement is a practical step that consolidates the regulatory framework established by the 1 May Decree, in line with the strategy of a human-centred approach to technology,” said the Minister for Labour, Marina Calderone. It comes immediately after 14 employers’ organisations signed the document to assess their representativeness and confirms the Government’s policy decision: to enhance the quality of work, including in terms of pay, by promoting collective agreements signed by the parties deemed to be comparatively more representative, and by creating an interconnected system that also facilitates access to public incentives. ‘It is a further sign of the direction we have chosen,’ concluded Calderone, ‘towards a more orderly, more transparent labour market based on clear rules, where effective collective bargaining and genuine representation become tools for the protection and growth of the country.’
Brunetta: ‘The agreement builds on a 40-year history’
“The agreement with the Ministry of Labour fully implements the 1 May Decree and builds on a forty-year history,” said CNEL President Renato Brunetta – “In 1986, the Mattarella Act established the National Archive of Collective Labour Agreements and Contracts within the CNEL. Today, that archive is complete. Alongside the national agreements, company and regional agreements – the very heart of collective bargaining – are now included for the first time in a systematic and structured manner. Workers, businesses and the social partners will thus be able to consult the country’s entire body of collective agreements at a single point of access, with details of the Total Remuneration Package. A data and information infrastructure that the CNEL is making available to the country. ‘Knowledge of contracts,’ concluded Brunetta, ‘is the prerequisite for their quality, and transparency is the primary means of safeguarding wages.’
