In December 2018  a National Working Group for countering the Gangmaster System was created with the aim to define a new strategy capable of fighting against the phenomenon of labour exploitation in the agricultural sector. Such strategy will be included in the Three-Year Action Plan, a programmatic document laying down the strategic objectives for drawing up specific measures aimed at improving the conditions in which seasonal workers carry out the picking of agricultural products, and at identifying measures for workers' reception, transportation and support.

In order to strengthen the national ability to formulate, develop and implement political reforms and intervention strategies capable of assuring an integrated approach in the fight against labour exploitation in the agricultural sector and the gangmaster system, the European Commission is supporting the Directorate General for Immigration and Integration Policies through the Structural Reform Support Programme 2017-2020 (SRSP), acting as secretariat in charge of coordinating the Working Group, while the technical assistance is provided by ILO (International Labour Organization). The Ministry of Labour, the European Commission and ILO – Office for Italy and San Marino, therefore, have jointly launched the project "Supporting the development of an inter-institutional governance for countering labour exploitation".

The project was officially presented at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies on 3 October, with the participation of the institutions in charge of the Working Group involved in countering the phenomenon on a daily basis, in the firm belief that an inter-institutional cooperation is the most effective approach for eliminating labour exploitation and forced labour.

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