GORIZIANE/FIAT FERROVIARIA
PRESS RELEASE
The Antitrust Authority rules against Fiat Ferroviaria
The Antitrust Authority has completed its investigation into Fiat Ferroviaria which began in April 1997. It found that the conduct of the company, consisting of its refusal to sell the spare parts needed by companies wishing to bid for a private tender called by Gestione Commissariale Governativa delle Ferrovie Appulo-Lucane for the general revision and overhaul of the Fiat/Iveco railway locomotive diesel engines, was an abuse of a dominant position.
Fiat Ferroviaria, the head of the Fiat Group's railway division, was found to occupy a dominant position on the national market for diesel locomotives and their engines and spare parts, for which the company holds a quota in excess of 97%.
The Authority found that the company had failed to honour its obligations as a company in a dominant position by its refusal to supply original components produced exclusively by Fiat Ferroviaria which were essential for any other companies wishing to take part in the tender called by the Ferrovie Appulo-Lucane company. Fiat Ferroviaria had thereby abusively exploited its dominant position on the locomotive and engines market in order to enhance this dominant position to take in the downstream engine overhaul market. As a result of this conduct, Fiat Ferroviaria had won the tender by preventing any other companies operating on the engine overhaul market from taking part, or from putting in tenders that were compliant with the technical specifications for the tender.
Furthermore, Fiat Ferroviaria had damaged Ferrovie Appulo-Lucane by depriving them of the possibility of choosing between alternative bids.
Since the railway locomotive engine overhaul market could grow substantially in the next few years, as evidenced from other experiences in Europe (the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal) the Authority judged the refusal of Fiat Ferroviaria to be particularly serious because it had prevented the development of competition on a newly-emerging market.
Rome, 13th January 1999