The Italian Competition Authority startes an Article 101 TFEU investigation into a price-fixing arrangement in the concrete market

By a decision made on 18 November 2015 in the Case I793 the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has opened an Article 101 TFEU investigation against four firms active in the market for the production and sale of concrete. The ICA started the proceedings following the recepit of a complaint. The complainant, a firm that produces and sells reinforced concrete in the region of Piedmont, reported to have received in the space of 5 days letters from three producers of concrete, Buzzi Unicem, Cementir and Cementirossi, by which they announced their intention to rise the price of concrete by the same amount. A similar communication was made by a fourth producer, Holcim, orally.
Considering the above reported conducts, the ICA feared that the four concrete manufacturers may have entered into an anticompetitive horizontal agreement to fix the prices of concrete in a substantial part of the national market. This part was identified in the North-western regions of Italy where the plants of the alleged cartelists were located. The ICA has to close the investigation by the deadline of 31 December 2016.


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