The Federation no longer allows football clubs to impose apprenticeship contracts on young professional football players without their express consent.

The Italian Competition Authority has successfully exerted its moral suasion on the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). With Official Communication no. 233/A of 31 May 2024, FIGC changed its Internal Organization Rules (NOIF) by bringing back a rule extending the term of contracts with young professional footballers beyond two years. Specifically, in addition to the two-year commitment period provided by applicable legislation, the communication allowed football clubs to enter into apprenticeship contracts lasting up to three years with their registered players without consulting them.

Following the remarks made by the Authority during a number of hearings with Professional Leagues, the Italian Football Club and FIGC, the latter agreed to change these rules. The new NOIF version was approved by the Federal Council on 30 January 2025 with Official Communication 159/A. It ensures that apprenticeship contracts with football clubs require the express consent of young professional footballers. Players who do not agree to the longer contract period are free to pursue their football careers elsewhere following the expiry of the two-year term provided by applicable legislation. The new provision will come into force on 1 July 2025; from then on, football clubs will no longer have the authority to unilaterally enforce the previous contract.

Rome, 14 February 2025

According to the Authority, the company failed to properly display prices and discounts advertised in its TV, radio, social media and internet promotional campaigns

The Italian Competition Authority has launched an investigation against Poltronesofà S.p.A. over a suspected unfair commercial practice. As a matter of fact, in its TV, radio, social media and internet promotional campaigns the company appears to have failed to properly display its advertised prices and discounts. In particular, in its recurring marketing campaigns, Poltronesofà is believed to have emphasised the existence and convenience of price reductions and discount rates – subject to time constraints (e.g. with the slogan “ending Sunday”) – calculated on the basis of much higher strike-out prices which are essentially never, or hardly ever, applied by the company. It therefore seems that Poltronesofà induced consumers to buy discounted sofas and make a purchasing decision they would not have otherwise made.

An inspection at Poltonesofà’s premises was carried out yesterday by the Authority’s officials, assisted by the Special Antitrust Unit of the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza).

Rome, 7 February 2025

The group, active in the logistics, transport and parcel delivery sector, implemented an environmental sustainability program in breach of rules protecting consumers and micro-enterprises.

The Italian Competition Authority has ordered General Logistics Systems B.V., parent company of the GLS Group in Europe, General Logistics Systems Italy S.p.A. and General Logistics Systems Enterprise S.r.l. to jointly pay an €8 million fine. The Authority found that the “Climate Protect” environmental sustainability initiative – which boosted the well-known group’s green image – was organised, funded and promoted in a non-transparent manner, and lacked the rigour and diligence demanded from highly polluting sectors such as logistics, transport and parcel delivery.

Growing awareness of environmental issues is increasingly influencing consumer purchasing decisions and the reputation of companies relative to their competitors. Against this backdrop, the environmental statements made by the three companies on the General Logistics Systems Italy S.p.A. website – within the framework of the environmental sustainability program created by General Logistics Systems B.V. – were found to be ambiguous and/or not sufficiently clear, specific, accurate, clear-cut and verifiable. Furthermore, subscribers to the General Logistics Systems Enterprise services were forced to join the “Climate Protect” program and pay for an unwanted carbon offset certificate with respect to their deliveries. The amount of this contribution was determined without verifying the costs actually incurred by them for the program. While top clients were exempted from paying the contribution, all other customers were led to believe that the GLS companies themselves would be contributing significantly to the program’s funding.

The investigation revealed that subscribed customers and GLS Italy’s logistics partners were made to bear all the costs connected to the “Climate Protect” program. In addition, it found that the GLS Group companies cashed in more than what they paid to implement the program. Moreover, their communications to subscribed customers and partner companies, as well as the carbon offset certificates issued to customers and enterprises for their deliveries were found to be misleading, ambiguous and/or false.

The Authority has therefore established that these conducts amount to an unfair commercial practice in breach of Articles 20, 21, 22 and 26, letter f) of the Consumer Code.

Rome, 4 February 2025

The goal is to strengthen existing cooperation, as well as prevent and counter corruption in the Public Administration and promote the proper functioning of the market more effectively.

The Chairman of the Italian Competition Authority, Roberto Rustichelli, and Milan’s Public Prosecutor, Marcello Viola, have signed a new memorandum of understanding.

The memorandum renews and reinforces the previous one signed in 2018, with the aim of strengthening existing cooperation, as well as preventing and countering corruption in the Public Administration and promoting the proper functioning of the market more effectively.

To this end, the memorandum provides an operational framework for the parties to exchange information regarding investigations, as well as criminal and administrative proceedings, within their respective areas of responsibility.

Specifically, the Authority will promptly send the Public Prosecutor’s Office any information and documents requested by the latter in the course of investigations and whenever the Authority’s enforcement activities bring to light criminal conducts.

The Public Prosecutor will send the Authority all unrestricted investigation documents pertaining to criminal offences affecting the proper functioning of the market and having a significant impact on consumers’ economic interests, or those which are useful in the application of rules on legality rating.

Cooperation is particularly important when it comes to the Authority’s new power to conduct inspections on premises, land and means of transport other than corporate ones, including the homes of managers, directors and members of staff. For the first time, the memorandum outlines the procedure through which the Authority can obtain the prior authorisation from the Public Prosecutor’s Office when inspections concern companies under the latter’s territorial jurisdiction.

The memorandum will remain in force for five years and is tacitly renewable. Its implementation will be monitored on an annual basis.

Rome, 30 January 2025

The company did not meet delivery deadlines and consumers received flowers different to those they ordered and paid, in terms of quality and bouquet type. It also failed to provide clear information on delivery costs.

The Italian Competition Authority has imposed a 400.000 euro sanction on Interflora Italia S.p.A. for an unfair commercial practice in breach of Articles 20, 21 and 22 of the Consumer Code.

In particular, the Authority found that Interflora Italia failed to meet its same-day or other delivery deadlines as promised, and it delivered flowers different to those selected and paid online by consumers, in terms of quality and bouquet type.

Moreover, the company’s online sales service did not provide clear and easily accessible information regarding its flower delivery costs.

Rome, 29 January 2025

The two companies have kept on sending communications to enterprises and microenterprises asking them to check their corporate data, while in fact leading to their subscription of multi-year advertising services.

The Italian Competition Authority has found that Mulpor Company S.r.l. and IBCM - International Business Convention Management Ltd. repeatedly failed to comply with its decision of 6 February 2019 and fined them for 3.5 million.

As a matter of fact, the two companies have kept on sending enterprises and microenterprises communications with the same misleading content and a similar layout as those for which they were initially sanctioned back in 2019, and then again for non-compliance in 2021. These communications asked recipients to check their corporate data previously added to a database named the International Fairs Directory. The form is designed to be easily mistaken as serving to update the database for a fair event, while it actually entails signing up for a three-year offer to publish an advert on the Directory, at an annual cost of Euro 1,200.

The Authority has confirmed its findings according to which these communications are misleading for recipients in terms of the operator’s identity claims, as well as the nature and economic conditions of the advertised offer, leading enterprises and microenterprises to unknowingly subscribe unwanted services. The two companies, in particular IBCM International Business Convention Management Ltd, have exercised their undue influence by expecting to be paid for an unwanted service which was subscribed unknowingly, through repeated reminders and threats of costly international legal actions.

This is one of many interventions by the Authority against companies which adopt particularly deceptive behaviour vis-à-vis microenterprises, by sending communications that appear to request the confirmation of their corporate data, so as to be included in a database free of charge, while the real aim is that of making recipients subscribe costly multi-year advertising services.

Rome, 28 January 2025

The Italian Competition Authority has closed the investigation into the alleged abuse of a dominant position against the companies Booking.com (Italia) Srl, Booking.com BV and Booking.com International BV (hereinafter referred to as “Booking”), accepting the proposed commitments.

The Authority had initiated proceedings for potentially abusive conduct by Booking, which allegedly limited the autonomy of Italian hotel facilities to differentiate their rates between booking.com and other online sales channels by adhering to certain programs promoted by Booking. In particular, these refer to the Preferred Partner and Preferred Plus programmes, which present benefits in terms of visibility in search results in return for higher commission payments and the commitment to provide 'competitive' pricing on booking.com, as well as the so-called Booking Sponsored Benefit, which enables Booking to apply a discount—without requiring prior approval from the establishment—to match the offer on its platform with the best available online.

Overall, the Authority found the commitments proposed by Booking to be adequate to remove the competition concerns. The group has, in fact, submitted a package of commitments to ensure that the prices imposed by facilities on online sales channels different from booking.com are not taken into account at any stage in the operation and promotion of the cited programmes. In addition, internal/external communication with facilities on access to and operation of these programmes is consistently changed and transparency to facilities on their operation is increased by sending one-off nominative emails to new partners and statistical data on a regular, periodic basis.

According to the Authority, the commitments presented by Booking ensure that the criteria for participation and the operation of the programmes in question are disconnected, at every stage of their implementation, from the pricing strategies practised by accommodation facilities on other sales channels. This ensures the commercial autonomy of the accommodation facilities and encourages competitive dynamics among OTAs in offering intermediation and online booking services. Furthermore, the enhanced transparency related to the functioning of the Preferred Partner, Preferred Plus, and Booking Sponsored Benefit programmes enables establishments to make more informed decisions concerning the costs and benefits of their participation.

Rome, 19 December 2024

The proceedings were initiated against the companies Bruno Baldassari, General Cavi, ICEL, IRCE, La Triveneta Cavi, Mondini Cavi, Pecso Cavi, Prysmian Cavi and Sistemi Italia and the AICE Association

The Italian Competition Authority has opened an investigation against Bruno Baldassari & F.lli S.p.A, General Cavi S.p.A., ICEL S.c.p.A., IRCE S.p.A., La Triveneta Cavi S.p.A., Mondini Cavi S.p.A., Pecso Cavi S.r.l, Prysmian Cavi e Sistemi Italia S.r.l. and Associazione Italiana Industrie Cavi e Conduttori Elettrici (AICE) for an alleged agreement restricting competition in the production and sale of low-voltage copper cables.

According to the Authority, the main copper cable producers operating in Italy, also at an associative level and with the help of AICE, allegedly coordinated by aligning, starting from 2005, the list prices and the amount of the initial discount to be applied to distributors. Furthermore, by the end of 2008, they would have established - in the context of AICE - a unified system to adjust prices in response to fluctuations in the cost of copper raw material (so-called “Sales System”).

The proceedings were initiated following the submission of a leniency application by a company, which disclosed the agreement to the Authority in order to receive a sanction benefit in return.

Yesterday, officials from the Authority, assisted by the Special Antitrust Unit of the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza), conducted inspections at the main offices of the parties, of two multi-brand copper cable distributors, and of the National Federation of Wholesale Distributors of Electrical Material - FME.

Rome, 12 December 2024

The focus of the Authority is on the networks of Ferrara (managed by Hera S.p.A.) and Como (managed by ComoCalor S.p.A.). On the other hand, no violations were found in the Parma and Piacenza networks, which are managed by Iren Energia S.p.A.

The Italian Competition Authority fined Hera S.p.A. for EUR 1,984,736 and ComoCalor S.p.A. for EUR 286,600 for charging excessively high prices in the district heating sector.

From May to June 2023, the Authority had initiated three proceedings regarding the networks of Ferrara (operated by Hera S.p.A.), Como (operated by ComoCalor S.p.A.), and Parma and Piacenza (operated by Iren Energia S.p.A.), in which a large part of the heat originates from sources other than natural gas (from waste combustion in Como, from waste combustion and geothermal energy in Ferrara).

The Authority intended to verify whether and to what extent the three companies had passed on an excessive and unfair burden to the users of district heating networks between 2021 and 2022, when an increase in natural gas prices had occurred. In particular, it aimed to understand whether Hera, ComoCalor, and Iren had intervened with adequate adjustments on the formulas to determine the heat price, based on the 'avoided cost' of gas heating.

At the end of complex preliminary investigations, the Authority found the application of unfair prices, in breach of Article 3, paragraph 1, letter a) of Law 287/90, in the Ferrara and Como networks in the year 2022 and imposed a fine of EUR 1,984,736 on Hera S.p.A. and EUR 286,600 on ComoCalor S.p.A.. The Authority determined that the companies have prevented consumers from benefitting from the use of renewable sources available at low costs to produce an essential good such as heat and have imposed unfair and excessive prices compared to the costs (including a fair return on the invested capital). On the other hand, the Authority found no violations of the same article of Law 287/90 in the Parma and Piacenza networks, managed by Iren.

Rome, 10 December 2024