THE IMPACT OF RECENT LEGISLATION ON SUPPLEMENTARY RETIREMENT PROVISIONS

Recent legislation on the Italian pension system has responded to long standing problems: the growing deficit of the general, compulsory reti rement insurance fund; the lack of uniformity of benefits under the va rious alternative compulsory pension plans, and the lack of regulation s governing private retirement plans supplementary to the basic public retirement provision. Though further measures are still needed, this response will permit the gradual reduction of benefits Provided by the general social security system, the harmonization of the rules govern ing public pension funds, and the systematic development of supplement ary private retirement plans. This article briefly examines the presen t and future pension system, the substance of the reformed rules, and especially the effects of the provision for private pension coverage a nd of the social security reforms on existing company and occupational pension plans. It also looks at the immediate and longer-term economi c outlook for those plans.