CONSORZIO PER LA TUTELA DEL FORMAGGIO GORGONZOLA (Start of full phase investigation)
PRESS RELEASE
Investigation into the Consorzio del Formaggio Gorgonzola
Following a complaint from of the main Gorgonzola producers, IGOR, that Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola (the Consortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola Cheese) had concluded an agreement to restrict competition in violation of Section 2 of the Antitrust Act, the Authority began an investigation.
Gorgonzola is one of the cheeses whose production and marketing are governed by Law No. 125 of 10 April 1954 entitled "The protection of the denomination of origin of cheeses and typical cheese names", which recognises certain types of cheese (Fontina, Gorgonzola, Grana Padana, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano and Pecorino Siciliano) which are produced in clearly defined geographical areas as having a "denomination of origin", since their qualities mainly derive from the specific conditions of their production environment. Under this law, enforcement of the law protecting the denomination of origin for different types of cheeses may be entrusted to voluntary production consortia, such as Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola.
In the light of its previous activities, the Authority considers that self-regulation and the programming of protected cheese production drawn up by the Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola might give rise to agreements restricting competition. More specifically, the conduct consists in setting limits on the overall production of Gorgonzola and the allocation of production quotas to each member company, or controlling production quotas each year, set out in the production plan drawn up by the Consortium.
The Authority also found that the way in which the provisions of the programming plan were applied to the IGOR company might place the latter company at an unjustified disadvantage with respect to the other Gorgonzola producers. For IGOR, which is not one of the members of the Consortium, is charged a higher rate for marking the cheeses than the charge made to the member companies, in addition to the requirement to pay a supervision and control fee which is not charged to the Consortium members.
Rome, 16 June 1998