OBSERVATIONS: THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY SEEKS THE ELIMINATION OF CONCESSIONS
PRESS RELEASE
The Italian Antitrust Authority has sent to the Government and Parliament an opinion in which it suggests a new policy regarding concessions granted by the public administration.
The concessions - used in many sectors, from transportation to radio and television to electricity to natural gas - in the opinion of the Authority alter competition and market equilibrium. In fact, in the granting of concessions by the public administration to a single company or limited group of entrepreneurs there is ample discretion, and subsequently the winners of these concessions will enjoy either a dominant or privileged position in the market.
The Authority maintains that, in applying the Bassanini Law, concessions should be replaced by administrative authorizations. This would allow more operators to enter the market and there would be fewer discretional choices and more transparency.
The Authority has indicated some sectors in which concessions could be totally or partially replaced by authorizations such as: transportation lines, telecommunications, radio and television, electrical energy, natural gas and harbour and airport services.
In the telecommunications sector there is already a law in which new companies operate with authorizations and the current concessions to Telecom, Tim and Omnitel are to be transformed into authorizations, even for fixed line services subscribers may choose to contract with a competitor of Telecom, as happens in the United States and other countries.
Substituing authorizations for concessions in the other sectors indicated by the Authority would have significant effects. For example, in the electricity sector, the concession to Enel should concern only the management of network and transportation, while other companies, having received authorizations, could compete with Enel in distributing electricity to the final users.
For radio and television, the concessions could be replaced by authorizations, as has already occured in France and the United States, with the entrance of other players into the market.
The concessions which remain in place should, in the opinion of the Authority, be gone over until the discretion of the public administration may use in choosing a company for a concession is reduced and that the number of concessions is limited, as is their length and any automatic renewals.
These measures would offer a significant contribution to a real liberalization in these important sectors.