Association
Dear user, your question concerns Confesercenti, but the link provided takes you to the Confcommercio website. These are two distinct and important Italian trade associations. Below, I've provided descriptions of both for clarity.
Confesercenti
Founded in Rome in 1971, Confesercenti is one of the leading business associations in Italy. Its mission is to represent and protect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Representation and Structure
Confesercenti represents over 350,000 Italian businesses active in commerce, tourism, services, crafts, and small industry, which employ approximately one million people. Its nationwide network is divided into:
Over 70 trade federations
20 regional offices
120 provincial offices
More than 1,000 local offices
Main Activities
Its core activities include union protection and the provision of specialized services for member businesses, such as access to credit, tax assistance, professional training, and supplementary pension plans. The association also signs important national collective bargaining agreements, including those for the tertiary, distribution and services, and tourism sectors. Confesercenti actively collaborates with national and European institutions to promote economic growth and business development.
Origins
The association was formed from the merger of four trade organizations: ANVA (street vendors), FAIB (fuel distributors), UNCIC (permanent retailers), and FIARC (commercial agents). Its creation responded to the need to provide specific representation for small and medium-sized businesses, distinguishing itself from Confcommercio, which represented the entire sector, including large companies.
Confcommercio
Confcommercio-Imprese per l'Italia is the largest business confederation in Italy, with over 700,000 member companies.
Sectors and Structure
It primarily represents the commerce, tourism, and services sectors, but also transport and logistics. Its representation system is organized both at the local level, with regional and provincial unions, and by professional category. The confederation also includes the Young Entrepreneurs Group and the Women's Tertiary Group, dedicated to female entrepreneurs.
Main Activities
Confcommercio's institutional activities focus on three main areas:
Protection and representation of business interests vis-à-vis institutions and political, economic, and trade union bodies.
Signing of national labor agreements for the relevant sectors.
Promoting initiatives such as training, technical assistance, access to credit through credit consortia, and supplementary pension plans.
In short, although both are confederations that protect service sector businesses, Confesercenti has historically focused on representing small and medium-sized businesses, while Confcommercio represents the entire business spectrum in its core sectors. Despite being two distinct entities, they occasionally collaborate on common goals.
Registered office: Piazza G. G. Belli, 2 - 00153 Roma (IT)
Website: https://www.confcommercio.it/
E-mail: confcommercio@confcommercio.it
Telephone: 0658661
