competitionlaw

The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has recently started an investigation into conduct carried out by the medical professional association of the province of Bolzano, Northern Italy, alleged to restrict competition in the market for commercial communications concerning professional services (case I706- Ordine dei Medici Chirurghi e degli Odontoiatri della Provincia di Bolzano). In May 2005, well before the enactment of the Bersani Act that in 2006 repealed limitations on the advertising of professional services, a consumer association invited all the dentists established in the province of Bolzano to communicate their fees for certain dental surgery operations for publication on the web site of the association. The medical association, however, strongly opposed to the initiative. First, in May 2005 by a letter sent to all its members, it advised against communicating the above data as that would have amounted to an illegal ad and a breach of professional rules. By a second letter

By a recent decision the OFT conditionally cleared the Air France Finance-City Jet/VLM Airlines by accepting the commitments offered by the merging parties as undertakings in lieu of reference provision (decision of 24 October 2008, case ME/3535/08, http://www.oft.gov.uk). The relevance of the decision lies in OFT accepting a set of remedies not wholly mirroring the competition concerns raised during investigations. In the view of the OFT, the proposed merger, the Air France KLM group (AFKL) acquisition of VLM Airlines, a Belgian regional airliner, may substantially lessen competition in the market for business air transport services constituted by the route linking London City Airport (LCY) and Amsterdam Schipol (AMS). Article 73 of Enterprise Act sets that if the OFT on the basis of evidence collected during the first phase investigation concludes that the reviewed concentration may result in a substantial lessening of competition, it has the duty to refer the merger to the Competit