Milan models to strike over foreign competition

MILAN, May 16 (Reuters) Models, fashion photographers, and make-up artists in Milan plan to go on strike tomorrow to demand tighter regulation of foreign competitors, saying a lack of controls is allowing them to poach Italian clients.

The Milan fashion pack complained today that foreign agencies did not pay Italian tax and were able to lure away clients by offering cheaper services.

''There is a total absence of rules for agencies that come here.

They don't even pay any tax,'' Lara Sganzerla, who works at model agency Major in Milan, told Reuters.

''We should have rules like Paris, where foreign agencies have to make a deposit with a bank before they can start to work,'' said Sganzerla.

The National Chamber of Italian Fashion agreed there needed to be more regulation.

''The chamber for fashion agrees with some of the motives behind the protests, particularly with the need to remedy the absence of rules covering foreign competition,'' Mario Boselli, head of the chamber, was quoted as saying by newspaper Finanza&Mercati.

Major Chairman Guido Dolci, who also heads fashion services association Assem, proposed introducing licenses for model agencies operating in Milan.

The strike will last for about three hours and is unlikely to shake the fashion world since the next shows in Milan -- for the 2007 spring/summer menswear collections -- only start at the end of June.

Reuters DKS RN1611