The article on the establishment of the Deputy Director of the Customs and Monopoly Agency has been removed from the Budget Law, while the article on new provisions on games has remained unchanged.
The Budget Commission of the Chamber of Deputies deleted article 206 of the 2021 Budget Bill, which provided for the possibility of the establishment, by the Customs and Monopolies Agency, of one or more deputy director posts up to a maximum three and one or more deputy director posts, up to a maximum of three. On the other hand, article 205 of the Budget Law containing "Provisions regarding games" has remained unchanged, which in paragraph 1 sets a new deadline for the allocation of gaming concessions for the collection of Bingo, postponing by 24 months the deadline provided for by the current legislation, until March 31, 2023. Paragraph 2 establishes that the payment of the fee due by the subjects operating under the extension regime of the expired concession relating to the months from January 2021 to June 2021 can be made by the day ten of the following month, to the extent of 2,800 euros for each month or fraction of a month over fifteen days and 1,400 euros for each fraction of a month less than fifteen days. Paragraph 3 specifies that the residual amount to cover the entire amount of the extension fee must be paid by concession holders who choose the reduced payment method for the first half of 2021, with monthly installments of the same amount, due to the legal interest calculated day by day, starting from July 2021 and by 10 December 2022. In the explanatory report, the Government specifies that the purpose of the extension is to allow the current concession holders to have an adequate period of time to be able to recover the economic and financial levels preceding the pandemic and, therefore, supporting the commitments, including economic ones, connected to the procedure for assigning new concessions. The financial difficulties associated with the current crisis led, in 2020, to a contraction in revenues relating to the payment of the monthly fee for the extension of the Bingo concessions, due to the failure or partial payment of the monthly payments by a large number of concessionaires.
