Italy does not have a law specifically dedicated to employment relationships established in the cultural sector, not considering Law no. 4/2013, which contains “provisions on non-organized professions” (on the basis of which AIB and ANAI, the National Associations of Librarians and Archivists have certified librarians and archivists according to the UNI EN ISO 9001 standard). In fact, the concept of “cultural work” is difficult to define, due to the heterogeneity of sectors and activities, as well as the variety of possible legal and contractual forms. For example, in 2014, the discipline regarding professionals competent to carry out interventions on cultural heritage was included in the Heritage and Landscape Codex (Article 9-bis, concerning archaeologists, archivists, librarians, demo-ethno-anthropologists, physical anthropologists, restorers of cultural heritage and collaborator restorers of cultural heritage, experts in diagnostics and in science and technology applied to cultural and historical art heritage, now listed in national directories).
In particular, cultural workers with a subordinate and open-ended employment relationship represent the minority and are often those who work for institutions and public entities (e.g., museums, libraries, archives), access to which is provided through public tender procedures, and which are regulated within the public administration employment framework. As for the rest, in addition to the “general” legislation (of subordinate work in enterprise, fixed-term, project-based, self-employed, etc.), various Soft law provisions are in force: for example, in the discipline of standards for museums (for State ones, see the Ministerial Decree of 10 May 2001), there are elements regarding some professional figures, as well as in the “National Charter of Museum Professions”, promoted by Icom Italia and other organizations.
In the Italian system, in addition to the Constitution and the laws, work in the private sector is regulated by agreements reached as a result of collective bargaining between workers representative organizations and employers’ associations (or a single employer), defined as national collective agreements of work (CCNL), including the Federculture contract (Federation for cultural, tourism, sport and leisure public service companies), which can be applied to employees of companies, businesses, institutions and bodies that provide services in the fields of culture, tourism, sport and leisure. The Federculture contract, which, starting from 2016, has a three-year duration both for the regulatory and the economic part, governs various contractual forms such as fixed-term, temporary and part-time contracts. With regard to flexible work, while recognizing that flexibility can, in principle, be functional to the needs of companies and workers, it sets a maximum overall percentage of flexibility that must be respected at the time of establishing the relationship and that can only be increased by virtue of a supplementary company agreement, based on specific needs. With regards to artistic services, the payments received constitute, in most cases, income from self-employment which, pursuant to art. 53 of Presidential Decree no. 917/86, is characterized by the coexistence of two elements, namely professionalism and habituality. Those who carry out an artistic activity in a professional way must request the attribution of a VAT number, specifying in the request the type of activity carried out as well as the tax regime they intend to apply (on the aspects relating to social security protection, see par. 4.1.3).
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