Italian trade associations propose key rules for digital euro

Four major Italian trade associations—Confcommercio, Confesercenti, Fipe, and Netcomm—have presented a joint set of proposals regarding the implementation of the digital euro. These proposals come as European institutions negotiate the regulatory framework for the project.

The key recommendations include establishing efficiency benchmarks for acceptance costs based on transparent European standards, protecting micropayments by eliminating commissions for small transactions, and ensuring offline resilience. The associations also advocate for zero hardware costs, requesting automatic integration with the 4 million active POS terminals currently in use.

The associations view the digital euro as a strategic opportunity to increase competition, enhance transparency, and reduce reliance on large international payment circuits. Currently, the European payment market is highly concentrated, with 12 major operators controlling 78% of transactions, 43% of which are linked to non-EU entities. This concentration is noted to disproportionately affect the negotiating power and commission costs of micro and small businesses.