Ncc, Forza Italia challenges Salvini: new bill to reorganise the sector

The building site of the reform of the hire with driver (Ncc) does not stop. While the so-called 'Salvini package' is struggling with the European Tris procedure and is still under discussion, it is Forza Italia that is relaunching with a new bill. An initiative that, in fact, goes beyond the regulatory reorganisation wanted by the vice-premier and Minister of Infrastructure.

The venue for the announcement was a press conference at the Chamber of Deputies, organised by the vice-chairman of the Transport Committee Andrea Caroppo together with the party's deputy national secretary, Stefano Benigni, and the Italian national MP Maria Paola Boscaini. This was the stage chosen by the Azzurri to illustrate their recipe for the future of the sector.

Shifting competences from the municipalities to the regions, abolishing the electronic duty sheet and the 20-minute break, free access to restricted traffic zones. These are the main ingredients of the Azzurra proposal. "Forza Italia has always been in favour of the free market,' says Boscaini, 'and the changes we propose go precisely in this direction. First step, that of competences. The proposal foresees the transfer from the municipalities to the regions of the competence for regulating the Ncc services, with full autonomy in setting the calls for tenders for Ncc licences, the number and type of vehicles to be used for the service, the modalities for carrying out the service, and the requirements for issuing authorisations for the exercise of hire with driver, the territorial scope of which passes from municipal to regional. The municipalities only retain the competence to regulate the taxi service (number of licences, fares, requirements, service modalities, etc.). 'The time has come,' explains Benigni, 'for Italy to align itself with other more advanced European countries on this type of service.

The National Public Register of Taxi and Ncc (Rent) licensed companies and operators - another cornerstone of the Salvini reform aimed at ensuring greater transparency in the sector - also takes on regional articulation, in line with the transfer of powers to the Autonomies. The text then introduces a radical simplification of the fulfilments and obligations for the Ncc operators already introduced by the 'Salvini package', starting with the abolition of the Electronic Service Sheet (Fdse), which brings with it the stop to the obligation to return to the depot and the mandatory 20-minute break after the car has left the departure depot in the event of more than one service in the same day.

"Ours is a proposal that does not root for anyone," Caroppo explains, "but introduces simple changes to the sector's regulations. Bookings for Ncc services can also be collected via apps and 'technological tools', and the pick-up and arrival at the destination 'can also take place outside the region that issued the authorisation' to carry out Ncc services. In practice, it is the total overcoming of the MIT implementing decree on the electronic service sheet, currently sub iudice of the administrative justice system. In line with the simplification of the Ncc service, Forza Italia's PDL also provides for free access for operators to Limited Traffic Zones throughout the country.