The italian Chambers of Commerce are points of reference for the economic system both at national and at international level.

The definition of Chamber of Commerce is that of an independent institution of public law, according to the Italian law 580/1993.

The Chambers are at the centre of a network of institutions and associations to which they guarantee services, development strategies and projects to ensure a balanced economic growth.

In Italy the Chambers network is represented by Unioncamere, the Italian Union of the Chambers of Commerce, Unioncamere promotes, implements and manages services and activities addressed to support the entire Chambers network.

In parallel, other institutions at national level offer technical and professional services, to the enterprises and to the Chambers themselves, in a wide variety of fields, from information and communication technology (Infocamere) to professional training (Istituto G. Tagliacarne), from internationalisation (Assocamerestero, Mondimpresa) to promotional activities to support agri-food sector (Agroqualità, BMTI – the italian regulated on line market  for agricoltural and food products), from integrated services (Retecamere) to infrastructure (Uniontransporti, Tecno Holding), from environment (Ecocerved) to innovation (Dintec) and tourism (Isnart).

At EU level there are Eurochambres and the Unioncamere office in Brussels.

The former is an association whose members are 45 Chambers delegations from EU countries and the Chambers of Commerce Network of the Islands of the EU, thus representing more than 2000 Chambers, which, in their turn, represent 19 million enterprises. The latter promotes the activities of the Italian Chambers network at EU institutions level.

At world level there are the so-called Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad, which are free associations of entrepreneurs and professionals, both Italian and local. They are represented by Assocamerestero.

The network of Italian Bilateral (Foreign) Chambers of Commerce or Foreign Chambers in Italy helps italian Chambers to enhance bilateral business relations, so to ease the access of enterprises to the market.

The numbers of the Chambers network:

• 105 Chambers of Commerce,
• 1 Italian Union,
• 19 Regional Unions,
• 66 Chambers of Arbitration,
• 103 Chambers of Conciliation,
• 21 labs to check products safety and quality,
• 38 Commodity Markets,
• 144 Special Agencies, in charge of promotion and infrastructure;
• 607 financial participations in infrastructural projects and other entities, together with other public and private actors;
• 9 foreign trade centers;
• 65 Euro-info Centers 
• 74 Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad;
• 32 Italian Bilateral (Foreign) Chambers of Commerce.