Collaborations and the certification instrument

The employment presumption, introduced by article 2 of Legislative Decree No. 81/2015, does not apply to the collaborations (i) for which the collective bargaining agreements foresee specific rules; (ii) rendered in practising a profession for which it is necessary to be entered in a specific Roll, as well as (iii) rendered by directors and members of Boards of Statutory Auditors. Beyond this list, the only practicable way to avoid the risk of employment is the certification of the relevant contracts by committees specifically authorised by law. The certification arose out of Legislative Decree No. 276/2003 (the so-called Biagi Reform) and is precisely aimed at checking the contract’s compliance with the law. Indeed, following such a certification, any third parties interested in removing the effects of the measure (such as supervisory inspectors, who could aim at a different definition of the relationship) will not be entitled to dispute the authenticity of the contractual form used, unless there is a court judgment proving the wrongness of the measure or the difference between the initially certified relationship and that held between the parties in real terms.