The Italian Competition Authority targets an alleged cartel in the vending market

Vending industry in Italy is going well with growing profits in 2013, too. Recently, this industry attracted the attention of the Italian Competition Authority (ICA). By the decision of 17 July 2014 the ICA has opened an investigation against 14 firms which were alleged to have cartelized the Italian vending markets (Case I738). The ICA started the investigation in the Case I738 following a report filed by an operator that was interested in installing a new vending machine. On the basis of the facts submitted by the complainant, the ICA believed that the parties entered into a non-competition agreement having as object to crystallize their market shares. According to the ICA, the parties agreed to refrain from supplying operators that were already clients of the other parties.
The Case I738 is also a useful reminder for firms to of the relevance to promote competition compliance among all their employees. Indeed, the ICA decision was based, among other things, on a chat the complainant had with the call center of one of the parties. When the complainant said that it was already a client of the competitor, the call center operator told the complainant that it could not enter into a supply contract with his employer. A similar chat the complainant had with the employees of two other vending operators. 

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