UnionCamere – Italy
Founded in 1901, UNIONCAMERE (Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Handicrafts and Agriculture) is a public institution whose task is to represent the general interests of Italian Chambers of Commerce in respect of all institutional stakeholders at local, regional, national and international levels, including business organizations, consumers and workers. Moreover Unioncamere formulates common orientations, promotes and carries out joint initiatives and supports the activities carried out by the Chambers system, favoring its development as a network at European and global level.
Unioncamere actively participates, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the consultative bodies entrusted with the monitoring and developing of the international trade policies of Italian Government and works to support SME’s in approaching foreign markets, basically trough the organization of business meetings, but also institution building, technical assistance and training.
Through individual projects, jointly with the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Unioncamere mobilizes national and international financial resources for the implementation of initiatives aimed at enterprises development and service centers networking.
Unioncamere’s status and position are governed by Law n.580/93 and several other regulations that reformed the system of the Chambers of Commerce, expanding their role and functions and emphasizing the role of the institutional network to serve communities businesses and local territories. The Legislative Decree n. 219/2016 recently introduced a new reorganization of Chambers of commerce by establishing a maximum number of eligible Chambers of commerce and by redefining their functions.
The Reform Act strengthens the Chambers of Commerce’s activities for active labor policies. Through Excelsior survey, Unioncamere provides detailed information on the occupational needs of Italian enterprises, with the aim to support policies concerning the labour market and the education and training system, and at favoring the matching between labour supply and demand. Since 1997, the Excelsior Information System has been one of the Italian main sources of information on labour market forecast. It is promoted and produced by Unioncamere with the participation of the Ministry of Labour and the European Union.
Regarding tourism, Uniocamere supports the Chamber’s initiatives in tourism and for the overall relaunch of the supply chain, to contribute to make the national offer more competitive. It participates directly in initiatives for the enhancement of landscape and cultural heritage and, through its in-house company Isnart, it carries out studies and publications, surveys and feasibility projects, data processing, creation of database and Observatories, organization of conferences, seminars and debates in the tourism sector. Particular attention is given to the quality of services, for which Unioncamere, in collaboration with Isnart, has established the quality label “Ospitalità Italiana”.
