The Customs and Monopolies Agency, with Management Determination Prot. n. 48344/RU Rome of 14 January 2025, has made some changes to the Determination of 17 December 2024 issued after the publication in the Journal of the European Union of the call for tenders for the concession of the operation and collection of online gaming pursuant to Article 6 of Legislative Decree n° 41/2024, among which the most significant are: it is no longer mandatory to establish a second office in Italy and the obligation of certification on gender equality is cancelled. These changes, as stated in the aforementioned Provision, come after the communications received by the Sole Project Manager “from operators, with registered offices outside of Italy, interested in participating in the tender procedure, which highlight possible critical issues related to some provisions contained in the Administrative Rules, potentially capable of representing a restriction on the freedom of establishment and the circulation of services, in contrast with Articles 49 and 56 of the TFEU – Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and, also, of undermining the principle of maximum participation in the tender procedure”.
In particular, in paragraph 5.2. the period has been eliminated which explained that “All capital companies having their registered office in a country other than Italy must establish at least one secondary office in Italy for tax domicile purposes, prior to signing the agreement, under penalty of refusal to sign it.” In point 2 of paragraph 9.1. the period marked with letters iv) UNI/PdR 125:2022 which provides for the “certification of gender equality” referred to in Article 46-bis of the Legislative Decree of April 2006 has been eliminated. In point 4 of paragraph 9.1. after the words “submission of an investment plan” the words “parameterized and divided according to the number of concessions requested” have been added, while in point 7 of paragraph 9.1 after the words “submission of a provisional guarantee” the words “parameterized according to the number of concessions requested” have been added. Finally, in paragraph 10.1, after the words “Therefore, the value of the provisional guarantee must be equal to EUR 750,000.00 (seven hundred and fifty thousand/00)” the words “for each concession requested” have been added. The aforementioned amendments, moreover, “are to be considered non-structural and, therefore, do not require a new publication in the Official Journal of the European Union as they leave all the essential elements of the notice of the procurement procedure published therein unchanged and unmodified.