Meal vouchers: starting September 1st, commissions for bars and restaurants will drop to 5%.

Starting September 1st, a cap will be introduced on the commissions applied to businesses for accepting meal vouchers , which can no longer exceed 5% of the ticket's face value.

Giancarlo Banchieri, president of Fiepet Confesercenti, recalled the upcoming deadline introduced by the Competition Bill : "This is a significant achievement, which addresses one of the main requests long-standing from our association: putting an end to a system that placed disproportionate and unsustainable burdens on business owners. For bars, restaurants, and public establishments, this is a real breath of fresh air, especially at a time when margins continue to shrink. According to our estimates, this measure will allow business owners to save up to €400 million annually ."

Banchieri called for " enforcement to ensure that issuing companies do not unilaterally intervene in existing agreements by introducing worsening conditions on other aspects, such as extending payment times. Beyond this, the reduction in operating costs for merchants will also benefit consumers, encouraging wider acceptance of meal vouchers and triggering a virtuous cycle that can strengthen the entire supply chain."

"It is therefore the right time," Banchieri concludes, "to begin a discussion on the possibility of raising the tax exemption ceiling to 10 euros as early as the next Budget Law : an intervention that would make the tickets more useful and convenient for everyone, consumers and businesses." The current tax exemption is 8 euros (for the digital version, while the paper version was lowered to 4 euros to encourage the use of electronic media).