NATIONAL SERVICE CONSORTIUM/COPMA (Conclusion of the investigation)
PRESS RELEASE
The Italian Competition Authority decided that the National Service Consortium (hereinafter CNS), a pool of cooperative firms providing cleaning, maintenance and catering service, violated Section 2, subsection 2, of law no. 287/90.
The Authority found that certain sections of the articles of the Consortium and the internal regulation named "Non-Competition Agreement" distorted competition in the relevant market concerning cleaning service procurements amounting to over 200,000 ECU, in which the CNS held a share of 28 per cent in 1996. In 1995 the total turnover of the firms joining the Consortium amounted to over 2,200 million lire, 180 of which were from the Consortium related services.
The Authority established that the provisions of the articles allowing the CNS to carry out some important activities in order to formulate a business strategy for its members, in particular to define territorial areas wherein they could operate, were likely to restrict business autonomy of members and to have significant effect on the proper functioning of competition. The "Non-Competition Agreement" under which the members were prohibited from going into competition with the Consortium for the award of contracts amounting to over 200,000 ECU, unless they would obtain a special derogation, was also considered as a violation of the Competition Act.
Considering the seriousness and the duration of the infringements, the Authority imposed on the CNS a fine of 24.6 million lire, equal to 2 per cent of the sales recorded by the Consortium in the relevant market. In the course of the investigation the Consortium amended its articles and removed the Non-Competition Agreement, in such a way as to cease anticompetitive behaviours.