competitionlaw

The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has closed by a commitment decision, made on 11 May 2017, the Article 102 TFEU investigation opened in the Case A496 Gara TPL Padova , against Busitalia Veneto (BV), Busitalia Sita Nord (BSN) and APS Holding (APS). The ICA had concerns about two abusive conducts affecting the competitive tender procedure called for by the contracting authority, PP, for the selection of the supplier of the local public transport services in the territorial ambit of Padua. The first abusive conducts referred to BV failure to provide PP with the data regarding the tendered out services which were needed to draft the tender notice. The second abusive conduct was the BV threat to discontinue the selling of electronic tickets should PP refuse to authorize the price increase requested by BV.   Following the opening of the antitrust investigation, in June 2016 the ICA adopted an interim decision ordering BV, BSN and APS to give PP the sought information. Comply...

This question is to be addressed by the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) in an Article 101 TFEU investigation it opened in the Case I812 FIGC-Regolamentazione dell’attivitàdi direttore sportive-collaboratore della gestione sportive-osservatore calcisticoe match analyst. The ICA investigation focuses the conditions laid down by the 2015 regulation adopted by the Italian football association (FIGC) for the access to the professions of team managers (direttori sportive) for clubs admitted to professional leagues, junior team managers (collaborator della gestione sportive) for clubs playing in the amateur leagues and talent scouts. The FIGC 2015 regulation allows only the persons registered with the special registries held by FIGC to perform the professions reported above. In order to be registered with the FIGC special registries, it is necessary to obtain a qualifying diploma by successfully attending one of the vocational courses organized, usually, each year by FIGC itself. On ...

In the Case I811 FinanziamentiAuto the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has opened an Article 101 TFEU investigation against 10 captive banks owned by car manufacturers, - Banca PSA Italia, BMW Bank, FCA Bank, FCE Bank, GM Financial Italia, Mercedes Benz Financial Services Italia, RCI banque, Toyota Financial Services, Volkswagen Bank – and two professional associations, Assilea and Assofin. The ICA opened the investigation upon the receipt of a complaint in March 2014, which was later completed with a second complaint filed in January 2017. The market affected by the anti-competitive agreement under scrutiny was the market for the consumer lending for the purchase of motor vehicles. The ICA’c concern is that that the captive banks periodically exchanged sensitive commercial information concerning the economic terms for lending applied by dealers to consumers. The exchanges took place via bilateral contacts, emails and phone calls, and multilateral meetings. The captive banks ...

In the recent judgments rendered in the RAS v European Commission and Saremar v European Commission cases the General Court of the EU has considered the compatibility of compensation payment granted to provider of public service tasks with the State aid rules. Crucially, in order to comply with the Altmark doctrine, which sets out under which conditions public service compensation does not constitute a state aid, the Court said that public authorities, among other things, have to provide for such compensation before the operating losses inherent in the performance of the public task take place. The Court also clarified that in cases where the Altmark doctrine could not apply and then public service compensation may amount to aid, a similar requirement should be met to comply with the criteria set out by the Commission and for such compensation to be declared compatible with the internal market pursuant to the exception in Article 106(2) TFEU. The article is available here .  

The focus lies on the School Cleaning Service case, recently decided by the Italian antitrust enforcers, concerning a bid rigging scheme that affected the procurement of public contracts. To establish a bid rigging scheme, the Italian Competition Authority must meet an evidentiary onus similar to one required by the European Commission. It has then to prove the anomalous bidding patterns, the lack of alternative plausible explanation for such conducts and the exchange of sensitive information between the colluders. Initially, the Italian Competition Authority found that a consortium of operators and three other firms breached Article 101 TFEU for collusion and imposed an impressive €113 million fine. On appeal, an administrative court set aside the infringement decision against one of the colluders that succeeded in proving that its bidding strategies had a rational explanation in the saving of startup and labour costs. The appeal judge also reduced the fines levied on the other cart...

In Nuovo Imaie the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) considered whether the business practices of Nuovo Imaie (NI), an Italian collecting society (CS), breached Article 102 TFEU. Eventually, the ICA closed the Article 102 TFEU investigation against NI with a commitment decision after accepting the set of commitments offered by the CS under investigation [1] . The facts of the case NI is the successor to the former legal monopolist, IMAIE, whose activities were transferred to NI with the Law no. 100/2010. In such a capacity, NI provides management services for performer’s neighbouring rights and also distribute fair compensation due to performers. This sector of collective management of artists’ rights has been opened to competition since January 2012. Following the receipt of several complaints filed by two NI’s competitor reporting allegedly abusive practices of NI, in April 2016 the ICA opened an antitrust investigation against NI. The decision of the ICA The relevan...