Federico Pisani, Lawyer and Labour Consultant, Studio Legale Carlo Pisani e Associati; Adjunct Professor, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio
Il Sole 24 Ore, NT+ Diritto, September 2, 2025
With note no. 306 of August 20, 2025, the National Labour Inspectorate (INL) clarified that the Certification of Compliance, the ASSE.CO., remains the exclusive competence of Labour Consultants. This brings to a close a long-standing dispute, culminating in the Lazio Regional Administrative Court’s ruling no. 9974/2025, which rejected the request by the National Council of Chartered Accountants to extend the possibility of issuing the certification to their profession as well.
As is known, the ASSE.CO. is a certificate issued to companies that, on a voluntary basis, wish to demonstrate their compliance with wage, contribution and contractual obligations. The procedure is based on verification carried out by an accredited Labour Consultant, who checks company conduct against laws and collective agreements, certifying the absence of irregularities such as undeclared work, child labour, breaches of working hours or safety rules. The documentation prepared by the consultant is submitted to the National Council of the Labour Consultants’ Order, a public body supervised by the Ministry of Labour, which is the entity entitled to issue the certification. The certificate is valid for one year, but is subject to quarterly monitoring obligations.
The advantages for companies obtaining certification are many: inclusion in a public list available online, reduced inspection pressure thanks to their recognition as “virtuous” companies, greater credibility in public tenders and in dealings with clients and suppliers. To this is added a reputational return, increasingly important in a market that rewards transparency, as well as internal and organisational benefits: the certified company can strengthen trust with employees and trade unions, enjoying a more constructive industrial relations climate. The obligation of quarterly checks also encourages companies to adopt stronger compliance and internal control systems, consolidating regularity over time. In some sectors, such as construction, logistics and services, the ASSE.CO. is regarded as a genuine “license of legality”, influencing contracting decisions even outside public tenders, with positive effects on reputation. Finally, the transparency deriving from inclusion in the public register can even affect creditworthiness, becoming an asset appreciated by financial institutions.
The INL stressed the need to maintain high-quality controls, underlining that the credibility of the ASSE.CO. depends on the rigour of the preliminary verifications and subsequent monitoring.
The INL document recalls the origins of the ASSE.CO. protocol, launched in 2014 as a joint initiative between the Ministry of Labour and the National Council of Labour Consultants, and renewed in 2023 to update the list of irregularities that constitute the technical benchmark for verification.
Underlying this is the acknowledgement that only Labour Consultants, by virtue of their specific training, qualification and professional experience, systematically operate in the field of labour and social security law across the entire national territory. For this reason, over the years the legislator has reserved for them prerogatives of particular importance: from certification of employment contracts to conciliation and arbitration, from managing electronic resignations to stipulating individual agreements on duties and remuneration, and even intermediation in the labour market.
The novelty reaffirmed by the Inspectorate mainly concerns the nature of the ASSE.CO., which is issued by the National Council of the Labour Consultants’ Order. The accredited consultant carries out an investigative and control function: verifying company compliance, drafting the declaration of conformity and assuming responsibility for the certification. The National Council, once the documentation has been acquired, formally issues the certification. The fact that both the INL and the National Council are supervised by the same Ministry of Labour ensures coherence, transparency and consistency of oversight.
The political-administrative message is clear: the certification system belongs to Labour Consultants, due to their specific expertise and the institutional coherence of the supervisory framework.
More than ten years after its introduction, the ASSE.CO. confirms its strategic function. It is not only a tool of administrative simplification, but also a mechanism of positive selection that rewards compliant companies and helps raise overall legality in the labour market. The Inspectorate’s note strengthens this framework and projects it into the future, making clear that transparency and compliance remain safeguards entrusted to those who have always made them their professional mission.