Public Land Occupancy Permits: how to rely on expert hands

When organizing an outdoor activity it is essential to structure impeccably a request for public land occupation or to obtain leafleting permits.

It is in fact in spring that brands take to the streets, squares and local markets to intercept their target audience.

Now, leafleting actions, promotional tours, roadshows and temporary stores are restarted, activities for which municipal permits are required, such as occupation of public land and/or distribution of advertising material.

When we talk about Public Land Occupation and Leaflet Permissions, what exactly are we talking about?

The Occupation of Public Land, temporary or permanent, is the formal request to physically commit areas managed by the Municipality within an area agreed and quoted per square meter.

Leaflet permits, on the other hand, are necessary bureaucratic practices for the distribution of leaflets, gadgets or samples (sample products), often following a path planned with a roadmap. In most cases you pay based on the number of people employed in the distribution for each day of activity.

How can you apply for a public land occupation activity or leafleting permits?

In the case of outdoor tours, product launches, distribution of flyers or sampling, the nature of the request is promotional and therefore aimed at advertising a product or service in a given time frame and communicated within the request.

This can be done by the client company or by the marketing agency to which the subcontracting activity has been commissioned, but it is essential to know how to submit the request to the competent offices.

In our country, the forms requested, the timing and especially the costs vary from municipality to municipality.

This aspect makes the Italian scenario particularly complex and varied if we think of the 7,915 Italian municipalities.

Examples of public land occupation and bureaucratic permits: Rome, Milan and Florence!

In Rome, for example, there are restricted areas such as the Vatican, San Pietro and Borgo Pio where leaflets are prohibited, while the rest of the city is divided into 15 municipalities; for a distribution of leaflets or gadgets is necessary to indicate at least one way to the town hall that you want to travel.

In Milan, however, the presentation of the request for occupation of public land, must be delivered by the customer himself or by a delegate, showing the leaflet or the original gadget that you intend to distribute a few days before the start of distribution.

In Florence, for commercial or advertising activities for the promotion of goods and services carried out in areas of historical and cultural interest, a higher coefficient is calculated than in other areas of the city, for the same activity.

What are the timeframes for a public land occupation activity or leafleting permits?

Depends. Depending on the size of the municipality also change the timing within which to apply for permits: for occupations on public land goes from a few days to 3 months in advance mandatory.

This sea of rules can lead, especially for the activity of leafleting where the costs are lower, to underestimate the importance of being in order, prompting the client companies or less scrupulous agencies to go out on the road without municipal permits.

Although it seems easier to pretend nothing and cross your fingers, it is always worthwhile to be in compliance, to avoid:

Salted penalties multiplied by the number of staff present in the activity;
stop in real time of the activities, with consequent economic damage and image;
lack of distribution of printed and branded material.

What can be the process of applying for public land occupation?

• → Planimetry and Graphic Design:

The information must be detailed and clear, explanatory photos and renderings of the area to be occupied, will help to understand where and how you want to position yourself. Only in special cases is a plan signed by a qualified technician required.

• → Production of any additional documents for the purpose of release:

Once the request is sent, after it passes to the evaluation of the offices, an integration may be required that consists in the production of additional documentation. Each integration must have as reference the case number issued to the first protocol.

• → Ideal Location Search:

The key to success is to find the ideal location for your target audience, but that’s not enough. To choose the ideal location you need to make sure that the chosen scenario supports the activity itself.

If you want to set up a temporary store that sells swimwear, it will be desirable to think of warmer locations.

To set up an inflatable stand 30×30, it will be better to think of spaces with large squares to increase the visibility of the brand and take advantage of the size of the structure.

If you plan to set up a children’s playground stand, it is advisable to place the structure in an area closed to traffic, a garden or a municipal park.

• → Payment of the fee:

All PSO requests will be followed by the payment of a fee called “COSAP fee”. Payment usually takes place once the opinion is positive.

• → Withdrawal of authorisation:

Once the positive opinion has been received and the payment has been made, it may be necessary to physically withdraw the request from the municipality; in most cases a runner is used.

• → Telephone check to municipalities:

It is advisable to follow the required practices step by step, soliciting the municipality and asking for updates on the status of the practice. It is impossible to contact the competent offices in the afternoon because they only operate in the morning.

What are the advantages of a public land occupation demand?

The real PLUS of an organization and management in the request for Public Land Occupation is a constantly updated database with regulations and costs for municipal bureaucratic practices.

Type of plan required, rate of influx of passers-by, costs of occupancy per square meter, hours of access loading and unloading of fittings, costs of access ZTL, costs per leaflet distributed or obligation to delegate the submission of the application …. these are just some of the information useful for any request.

An updated database is created with time, experience and foresight that the processes carried out with care and attention to the long term always pay off.

Contact us to find out more about practices for public land occupation and leafleting permits.

If you rely on the right partner, doing a public land occupation becomes child’s play, word of Hostess & Promoter.