The Italian Administrative Court of First Instance annuls a national telecommunications company's margin squeeze fine due to the Competition Authority incorrectly applying the "as efficient competitor" test (Vodafone)

Fosselard, Denis; Accardo, Gabriele; Carnazza, Giulia

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15 Sep 2021

The Italian Administrative Court of First Instance annuls a national telecommunications company’s margin squeeze fine due to the Competition Authority incorrectly applying the "as efficient competitor" test (Vodafone)

KEYWORDS

Reference

Italian Administrative Court of First Instance, Vodafone, N. 09803/2021, 15 September 2021 (Italian)

On 15 September 2021, the Italian administrative court of first instance ("TAR Lazio") upheld the appeal brought by Vodafone Italia S.p.A. ("Vodafone") against the decision of the Italian Competition Authority ("ICA") of 13 December 2017 in case A500(A). The TAR Lazio found that the ICA had incorrectly applied the "as efficient competitor test". As a result of that error, the ICA erroneously established the existence of a margin squeeze in the bulk SMS market. Therefore, the TAR Lazio annulled the ICA's €5.7m fine. Key takeawaysIn margin squeeze cases, the ICA is required to apply the "as-efficient competitor test".When applying the "as-efficient competitor"

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Authors

Denis Fosselard
Ashurst (Brussels)

France 45 contributions 45506 visits
Gabriele Accardo
Ashurst (Milan)

France 102 contributions 28823 visits
Giulia Carnazza
Ashurst (Brussels)

Belgium 11 contributions 6083 visits

Quotation

Denis Fosselard, Gabriele Accardo, Giulia Carnazza, The Italian Administrative Court of First Instance annuls a national telecommunications company’s margin squeeze fine due to the Competition Authority incorrectly applying the "as efficient competitor" test (Vodafone), 15 September 2021, e-Competitions September 2021, Art. N° 103658

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