The Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato) was established in Italy by Law no. 287 of 1990. It is an independent body, in that decisions are based on the competition law without interference by the Government. Having as aim the citizens’ welfare, the Authority enforces rules against anticompetitive agreements among undertakings, abuses of dominant position as well as concentrations (e.g., mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures) which may create or strengthen dominant positions detrimental to competition. Moreover, the Authority may send official opinions to the Government, the Parliament, the Regions and Local Authorities whenever existing or proposed legislative and administrative measures restrict competition. The Italian Competition Authority is also in charge of several other competencies, including protecting consumers from misleading advertising, comparative advertising which may bring discredit on competitors’ products or cause confusion, as well as unfair commercial practices among undertakings. Finally, the Authority enforces rules against conflicts of interest for government officials.
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Car sales through financing: ICA sanctions cartel among leading operators imposing fines of over 670 million euros* On 20 December 2018, the Italian Competition Authority concluded an investigation launched against the leading captive banks and related automotive groups operating in Italy in (...)
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Facebook fined 10 million Euros by the ICA for unfair commercial practices for using its subscribers’ data for commercial purposes On 29 November 2018 the Italian Competition Authority (ICA), closed the investigation opened last April for alleged violations of the Consumer Code by Facebook (...)
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Investigation initiated against Monte Titoli for possible anti-competitive behaviour in the post-trading sector* On May 9, 2018 the Italian Competition Authority opened an investigation concerning an alleged abuse of dominant position carried out by Monte Titoli – a company belonging to the (...)
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Monitoring launched in online hotel booking sector* Monitoring the impact of the new parity clauses in the contracts with online travel agencies by the Italian Competition Authority in partnership with 9 other National Competition Authorities The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM), in (...)
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Sector inquiry on vaccines for human use * The Italian Competition Authority has decided to launch a survey on vaccines for human use (ref. IC50). Taking into account (a) the importance of vaccines in terms of health care costs borne by the National Health Service (over € 300 million per (...)
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Commitments offered by booking.com: closed the investigation in Italy, France AND Sweden* On 21 April 2015, the Italian Competition Authority has rendered legally binding the commitments offered by Priceline Group’s companies Booking.com BV and Booking.com (Italy) and closed, with respect to (...)
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Prior notifications of mergers and acquisitions: updating of turnover thresholds* The Competition Authority has resolved that as from 16 March 2015 the thresholds beyond which prior notification must be submitted for all acquisitions and mergers is raised to 492 million euro for the aggregate (...)
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