The Italian Competition Authority closes an Article 102 TFEU investigation against the incumbent in the high speed rail market with a commitment decision (NTV / Fs / High speed trains)

The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has recently closed by a commitment decision an Article 102 TFEU investigation it had opened last year against the previous rail monopolist, the Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) group [1]. In the NTV/Fs/Ostacoli all’accesso al mercato dei servizi passeggeri ad alta velocità (thereinafter NTV/Fs/High speed trains) the ICA enquired into the abusive conducts carried out by the FS holding and its subsidiaries RFI (the rail network manager), Trenitalia (the train operator), Grandi Stazioni and Centostazioni (both entrusted with the management of rail stations). The FS group offered a number of behavioural commitments that were subjected to a market test. On the basis of the outcome of that test the ICA approved all the proposed commitments but for one submitted