COMPANIES WHICH BUILD AND MAINTENANCE LIFTS (Conclusion of investigation)
PRESS RELEASE
The Italian Antitrust has found the main groups in the area of lift maintenance have agreements to keep prices high
The Italian Antitrust Authority has presented its opinion that the most important national association in the sector for lift maintenance (ANACAM), and its two regional sections in Emilia-Romagna and the Marche and another national association in the same sector (CONPIAI) have violated Law No. 287/90 in as mush as they have drawn up, adopted and distributed price-lists for services with the intention of fixing prices. This behaviour constitutes an agreement to restrict competition.
The market studied, lift maintenance, is worth around Lit 1 trillion in Italy. The number of systems using maintenance services is very high, about 650,000, while there are about 1,500 companies active offering this service. There are on the Italian market, aside from the three multinationals - Otis, Schindler and Kone -, numerous small- and medium-sized companies. In other countries round the world, the number of systems is significantly lower. In the United States there are only about 500,000 active systems. The reason for the particular density of the Italian market is because of regulations in the sector which make it obligatory first that any building which is over three floors must have one and second that this system is maintenanced, these general conditions do not exist in other contexts.
Documents which contain detailed information regarding the fixing of prices for lift maintenance services were found during the investigation. In particular "Analysis of costs for service assistence and maintenance for lifts" and "PL price-list", adopted in the Marche section of ANACAM and of "subscription tariffs" drawn up by the Emilia-Romagna section of the same organization. It was found that these documents were used as price lists not only by companies which belonged to ANACAM, but also by members of CONPIAI.
Within the acts of the procedure there are numerous elements which demonstrate that the companies would have been able to charge much lower prices than those indicated in "Analysis of costs...". For example, in bids for tender offerings we see "discounts" of up to 60%.
The Authority has determined that the fixing of the price for lift maintenance services as carried out by largest associations in the sector prejudices the forces of competition, as it allows each member company to predict with a high degree of accuracy the pricing policy of its competitors. As a consequence, the adoption of a set of tariffs by associations which represent the near-totality of the offer causes a significant distortion in the competitive dynamics within the national market damaging competition and in final analysis, the consumer.
At the conclusion of the investigtion, the Antitrust Authority found the behaviour of ANACAM and CONPIAI guilty of violating Art. 2 para. 2 of Law No. 287/90 and has warned these associations not to adopt any future price lists and has imposed on the national ANACAM, and the regional sectors of Marche and Emilia-Romagna and on the CONPIAI to present, within 60 days, reports on the initiatives adopted to promote conditions for competition.