competitionlaw

Introduction With a decision adopted on 13 November 2008 the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has closed proceedings against Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) for abuse of dominant position in the market for railway transport by the approval of a set of behavioural commitments offered by the FS and RFI to resolve the competition concerns raised by the AGCM (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, 13 November 2008, Case A389 - Rail Traction Company/Rete Ferroviaria italiana-Ferrovie dello stato, Provvedimento n° 17327, Chiusura istruttoria; Bollettino n° 43/2008).The abusive conduct complained of consists in the non-application of the so-called K-2 discount, which, under some circumstances, railway undertakings are entitled to on the charge access to the rail network. The factual and regulatory background In order to modernize the ageing Italian rail network, the installation of a new signalling system (SCMT) has been decided. This system consis...

In the space of a month the Italian Competition Authority or ICA fined ADR and SEA, the managers of the airports of Rome and Milan, respectively, for setting excessive airport fees for access to certain airport facilities. ADR and SEA were so condemned to pay a fine of € 1.668.000 and € 1,549,000, respectively. (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato or AGCM, case A376, decision of 23 October 2003, Aereoporti di Roma-Tariffe Aereoportuali, Bollettino 40/2008, and AGCM, decision of 26 November 2008 case A377, SEA-Tariffe Aereoportuali. ADR enjoyed a dominant position at the Rome’ airports of Fiumicino and Ciampino, as holder of an exclusive licence for the joint management of the airports until 2044. SEA, instead, has a dominant position at the Milan’s airports of Linate and Malpensa as holder of an exclusive licence for the joint management of the airports until 2041. ADR has been found guilty of violating Art. 82 EC for imposing excessive airport fees for refuelling and s...

The Italian competition authority (AGCM) disapproves of regional restrictive rules for Sunday trading Some time ago retailers raised before EC courts the issue whether national laws prohibiting or restricting Sunday trading violated the principles of the EC single market. More recently, the issue of Sunday trading was the subject of an opinion issued by the Italian competition authority (AGCM, AS480, Osservazioni in materia di apertura degli esercizi commerciali in Italia, Bollettino n. 39 of 12 November 2008, www.agcm.it ). The opinion is about the compatibility of a number of rules adopted by regional and local authorities to set the opening times of shops with the Act n. 114/1998. The Act n. 114/1998 reshuffled the regulatory framework for retailing in Italy and, more importantly, liberalized the opening times of businesses that meet the conditions set out in Article 12 or in Article 13. Article 12 regards shops located in municipalities with a predominantly tourism-based economy, i...

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...

In a recently given opinion the watchful eyes of Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has spotted an arrangement contrary to the spirit of competition in the extension of Enel exclusive research and exploitation rights of geothermal resources in some areas of Tuscany (AGCM, case AS474, Disciplina della Ricerca e della Coltivazione delle Risorse Geotermiche) Under Italian law the general rules governing the research and exploitation of geothermal resources are laid down by the Mining Act of 1927. As geothermal resources belong to the state, the right of carrying out researches into these resources and exploit them are given by state to interested operators by means of a concession. The Act 625/1996, which has implemented Directive 94/22 EC rules that such a concession are awarded through open tendering procedures. However, the Act 896/1986, enacted well before the implementation of EC measures pursuing to the liberalization of the energy sector, shapes quite a generous regime for Enel a...

The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has recently decided to open investigations into an abusive conducts allegedly carried out by Ferrovie dello Stato, the Italian incumbent railway undertaking upon receipt of written complaint filed by a new entrant, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV) (see case A409, www.agcm.it"> With the approaching of the opening of the new Italian high speed rail network, NTV is planning to launch an extensive web of high speed train services competing with Trenitalia, the train operator fully owned by Ferrovie dello Stato. To this end, NTV asked to Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, the infrastructure manager also fully owned by Ferrovie dello Stato access to the maintenance and technical centre of Naples and to station buildings. These assets can be found in the second list of Annex II of the EC Directive 2001/14. Under Article 5 of the directive, infrastructure manager grants track access to services facilities and supplies the services indicated in the l...