Guide · card terms and Decree 430/2001
Loyalty scheme rules in Italy: your own card terms and the law
Loyalty scheme rules in Italy work on two levels. The first is the terms you write: what earns a stamp, how many are needed, which reward, until when and who confirms. The second is the law: if the scheme is a prize operation under Presidential Decree 430/2001, you need self-certified rules kept at your premises. Ask your accountant which case applies to you.
Updated by Radman Sattari, Founder of Iterum
Loyalty scheme rules in Italy: your shop’s terms and the rules the law requires
Every loyalty card needs written terms, even the simplest one: customers need to know what earns them a stamp and what they get at the end, and whoever works the counter has to give the same answer on every shift. These shop terms are always needed, whatever the law requires.
The legal set of rules, the «regolamento», is something else. In Italy prize competitions and prize operations are governed by Presidential Decree no. 430 of 26 October 2001: if a loyalty scheme counts as a prize operation and no exclusion applies, the business has to draw up a regolamento with set contents and complete some formalities. If the scheme is excluded, your shop terms still apply.
This guide summarises what the decree and the pages of the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT) say; it does not decide whether your scheme is a prize operation. It is not legal or tax advice: ask your accountant before you launch the card, especially if the reward is not the same product the customer buys. Outside Italy, check your own national rules.
What to write in your loyalty card terms: the points not to forget
Shop terms work when each point answers a question a customer will sooner or later ask at the counter. One short sentence is enough on the card itself; the full terms can sit on a sign next to the QR code or on a linked page. For the short text to print on the card, there is a template in the guide on how to create a loyalty card.
| Point | Customer’s question | Example to adapt |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the card | Which business is this card for? | The business name and, if there is more than one site, where it is valid |
| Qualifying visit | When do I get a stamp? | «One stamp for every breakfast at the counter», «one stamp per completed service» |
| Target | How many stamps do I need? | «Ten stamps for the reward» |
| Reward | What exactly do I get? | «One espresso», «one blow-dry», with any exclusions |
| Validity | Until when can I use my stamps and the reward? | An end date or a period, or «until withdrawn with notice» |
| Redemption | How and when do I collect the reward? | «Show your card at the counter; the reward is collected on a later visit» |
| Who confirms | Who can give me a stamp? | «Only our staff, at the till» |
| Changes | Can the terms change? | How changes will be announced and what happens to stamps already collected |
| Personal data | What details do I give and why? | A link to the privacy notice, to read before joining |
Is a stamp card a prize operation in Italy?
A stamp card looks very much like the definition of a prize operation in Decree 430/2001. Article 3 treats as prize operations, among other things, offers of prizes to anyone who buys a certain quantity of products or services and proves it by collecting and handing over a certain number of proofs of purchase, «also on magnetic media», and offers of a gift to anyone who buys a given product or service.
The Ministry’s page on prize operations adds that prizes may be goods, services or price discounts, while they may not consist of cash, bonds, shares, company or fund units or life insurance policies. It also states that prizes must be delivered within six months of being requested.
Whether the card is cardboard or digital does not change the question: what matters is the mechanism and, above all, the type of reward. That is why the answer almost always goes through Article 6, which lists the excluded cases.
When a loyalty card is not a prize operation: the exclusions in Article 6
Article 6 of the decree lists events that count as neither prize competitions nor prize operations. For a loyalty card the closest letters are c, c-bis and d; the table summarises them and gives, for each, a question to take to your accountant. They are questions, not conclusions: the same reward can be read differently depending on how the scheme is built.
In practice the line runs between a reward of the same kind as what the customer buys, such as a coffee after a series of coffees, and a gift of a different kind, such as a branded mug or a product from another category. The guide to loyalty card reward ideas starts from the same distinction to help you choose the reward. Where the law bans prizes outright on some products, such as medicines, the line is sharper still: the guide to the pharmacy loyalty card explains it.
| Letter | What it excludes, in short | Question for your accountant |
|---|---|---|
| c | Prizes made of discounts on products or services of the same kind as those bought, or of extra quantities of products of the same kind; also discounts on a product of a different kind, if they are not used to promote it | Is my reward an extra quantity of, or a discount on, the same kind of product the customer buys? |
| c-bis | Events in which, after a given spend, the prizes are vouchers for a later purchase at the same shop or another shop of the same brand or business | Is my reward a voucher to spend at my shop on a later visit? |
| d | Prizes made of items of minimal value, provided that giving them does not depend in any way on the kind or size of the sales | Is the gift an item of minimal value, given regardless of how much the customer buys? |
| e | Prizes intended for public bodies or institutions, or for bodies with social or charitable aims | Does the value of the reward go to a charity rather than to the customer? |
If the card is a prize operation: rules, guarantee and timing
For prize operations the decree does not require the advance notice to the Ministry that Article 10 requires for prize competitions. It requires instead a regolamento self-certified by a sworn statement («dichiarazione sostitutiva di atto notorio») of the legal representative, kept at the business’s registered office for the whole duration of the operation and for the twelve months after it ends; the same applies to any changes.
Article 7 then requires a guarantee deposit for the prizes: for prize operations it equals 20 per cent of the total value of the prizes promised, and it is not due when the prize is handed over at the moment of purchase. If the value of the prizes cannot be known in advance, it is estimated from similar past events and expected sales, and topped up if it proves insufficient. To estimate what your card’s rewards cost, you can start from the reward cost calculator.
The Ministry’s page brings these steps up to date with today’s procedure: the guarantee is sent with form OP/1 through the Prema on-line service and, at the end, the business sends a sworn statement with the legal representative’s certified signature confirming that the operation ended properly and that the prizes were delivered. The same page gives a maximum duration of five years.
| Step | What the source says | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Before you start | Rules drawn up as a sworn statement with the legal representative’s certified signature, prepared before launch | Decree 430/2001 Art. 10(3); MIMIT page «Operazioni a premio» |
| Keeping the rules | At the registered office for the whole duration and up to twelve months after the end; sent only if the Ministry asks for it | Art. 10(3); MIMIT page |
| Guarantee | 20 per cent of the total value of the prizes, in favour of the Ministry, by deposit or bank or insurance guarantee; not due if the prize is handed over at purchase | Art. 7; MIMIT page (form OP/1) |
| Duration and delivery | Five years at most from the start; prizes delivered within six months of the request | MIMIT page |
| Changes | Allowed if they do not harm rights participants have already acquired and are announced in the same way as the original promise | Art. 10(4) |
| At the end | Sworn statement that the operation ended properly and the prizes were delivered, sent to the Ministry | MIMIT page |
What the rules of a prize operation must contain
Article 11 of the decree lists the minimum contents of the regolamento: the promoter or promoters, the duration, the territory covered, how the operation works, the nature and indicative value of each prize and the delivery deadline. For prize competitions it must also name the non-profit organisation that receives any prizes not awarded.
The rules must be made available to consumers. Promotional material that does not include them must state at least the conditions of entry and the duration, or refer specifically to the rules and explain how to read them: for a loyalty card, a sign at the counter or a page linked to the card are the most natural places.
Many points match the shop terms in the table above. The difference is the form: you write your shop terms as you like, while the rules of a prize operation follow the contents and formalities of the decree.
Before you launch the card: five checks
These checks apply to any card, paper or digital. The third one decides whether the formalities of a prize operation apply.
Write your shop terms
Qualifying visit, target, reward, validity, redemption and who confirms, in sentences your staff can repeat the same way on every shift.
Describe the reward precisely
Say what is included and what is not: «one espresso» is not the same as «any drink».
Take the reward to your accountant
Ask whether the scheme is a prize operation or falls under an Article 6 exclusion, and which formalities apply in your case.
Decide the duration and how you will change the terms
An end date or a periodic review avoids arguments; changes should not wipe out stamps already collected.
Make the terms easy to find
Put them next to the counter QR code or on a linked page, together with the privacy notice.
How to show your card terms with Iterum
With Iterum the main terms start in the card designer: you choose the number of visits, write the reward in your own words and see the preview before paying. Customers open the card from the counter QR code or a link, with no app and no box to tick: by adding the card they accept the card Terms and confirm they have read the privacy notice; authorised staff confirm the stamp from the «Al banco» staff station by scanning the card’s QR code or typing its code.
Iterum records visits, customers and rewards in the dashboard: it helps you apply the terms the same way every time, but it does not draft regolamenti, provide guarantees or complete formalities with the Ministry. For customer data, read the guide on loyalty cards and the GDPR; for choosing the mechanism, the comparison of stamps vs points.
To try the service there is a 7-day free trial: you pay €0 today, a payment card is required and, unless you cancel, the selected plan continues after the trial. Worked examples of terms by sector are on the loyalty card for cafés and the loyalty card for pizzerias.
Sources and method
Sources consulted on 11 October 2026: Presidential Decree no. 430 of 26 October 2001, Article 3, on Normattiva, and Articles 6, 7, 10 and 11; Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, «Operazioni a premio», page updated on 23 September 2026 (all in Italian).
The summaries of the articles and their English renderings are ours and do not replace the official Italian text; the example terms and the questions for your accountant are illustrative. This guide is not legal or tax advice and does not assess any specific scheme; outside Italy, check your own national rules. The information about Iterum describes the product as of 11 October 2026; Iterum has no relationship with the Ministry.
Frequently asked questions
- Does a stamp card need formal rules in Italy?
- Shop terms are always needed. The regolamento required by Decree 430/2001 is needed if the scheme is a prize operation and does not fall under the Article 6 exclusions: it depends mainly on the reward, so ask your accountant.
- Does a loyalty card have to be notified to the Ministry before it starts?
- Prize competitions do; for prize operations the decree does not require advance notice, but self-certified rules kept at your office, the guarantee sent with form OP/1 and a final statement, if the scheme is a prize operation.
- How long can a prize operation last?
- According to the Ministry’s page five years at most, starting from the day the scheme is advertised; prizes must be delivered within six months of being requested.
- Can I change the card terms after launch?
- The decree allows the promise to be changed if the changes do not harm rights participants have already acquired and are announced in the same way as the original promise. In practice, give notice first and do not wipe out stamps already collected.
- Can I offer cash as a loyalty card reward?
- Not in a prize operation: the Ministry’s page excludes cash, bonds, shares, company or fund units and life insurance policies from prizes. Goods, services and price discounts are allowed.