ITALIAN PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION/SCHOOL BOOKS (Start of full phase investigation)
PRESS RELEASE
The Italian Competition Authority has initiated a proceeding against the Italian Publishers' Association (AIE) in order to investigate an alleged restrictive agreement.
In particular, the investigation concerns agreements among AIE's associates, which were stipulated through the association itself. These agreements deal with a component of the school book's cover price, the percentage margin granted to booksellers to distribute books, according to a circular letter sent by AIE to all its associates.
In this letter, AIE fixes for its associates the application of the same economic conditions to booksellers. As such, this conduct is likely to reduce price competition among publishers. AIE's circular letter is part of a wider collaboration and information exchange program among the associates, which seems to be aimed at fixing - through AIE itself - their respective price strategies. On the basis of the Authority's findings, it also emerges that certain associates have applied AIE's indications, by informing a number of booksellers located all over the national territory of the new contractual conditions which would have regulated the supply of school books.
In 1995, net-returns total sales in the market of the school publishing were approximately 702 billion lira divided as follows: 68 billion coming from grammar school books; 259 billion deriving from junior high school books; 375 billion coming from high school books.
Considering that AIE, which joins more than 300 publishers, is the most representative professional association of the Italian publishers, and that publishers who agree with the proposal contained in the AIE's letter constitute a substantial market share of the school publishing, the agreements subject of the investigation seem to concern a considerable part of the markets of the school books production as well as of the supply of such products with the retail distribution outlets. As these agreements are aimed at fixing directly or indirectly school books' selling prices, they could determine appreciable restrictions on competition in both the above mentioned markets, in such a way as to violate Section 2, subsection 2, of Law no. 287/90.