REGIONAL MEASURES TO IMPLEMENT LEGISLATIVE DECREE NO. 114/98 GOVERNING THE WHOLESALE/RETAIL TRADE (Advisory opinion)
PRESS RELEASE
Opinion of the Antitrust Authority regarding regional measures to implement Legislative Decree no. 114/98 governing the wholesale/retail trade.
Legislative Decree No. 114 of 31 March 1998, laying down new rules governing the retail trade, requires regional governments to lay down general policy guidelines for the establishment of commercial premises and the criteria to be used for town planning in relation to commercial activities by no later than 24 April 1999. An examination of the responsibilities for trade vested in the Regional authorities by national legislation clearly shows the importance of the interpretation which the Regional authorities place on their specific role in implementing the reform of the wholesale/retail trade in Italy. In February 1998, the Authority therefore issued an advisory opinion on the preliminary version of the Decree, in which it expressed the hope that, insofar as any discretion existed for a regional interpretation, national legislation would be implemented by the Regional governments consistently with the purpose of liberalizing and opening up to competition, which were two of the objectives of the reform,
The Authority is concerned that only a few of the 'ordinary Statute' Regional governments have made substantial progress in enacting their own measures to implement Legislative Decree no. 114/98, which have to be enacted by 24 April 1998. Any delay on the part of the Regional authorities in performing the duties vested in them by the Decree would be highly damaging as far as progress in this area is concerned. Until the Regional provisions are enacted it is impossible for any applications for medium and large commercial centres to be submitted for approval. Furthermore, if Regional legislation under Section 6 of the Legislative Decree is not enacted it will be impossible to bring the municipal town planning regulations up-to-date, which would create considerable uncertainties regarding the rules governing neighbourhood shops.
The Lombardy Region has acted much more promptly than other Regions in issuing the complex statutory provisions which have to be enacted by 24 April 1999. The Lombardy Regional government gave the Antitrust Authority its draft wholesale/retail trade legislation and the two-year programme of its general policies for the establishment of commercial premises and planning criteria for the commercial sector. In its opinion to the President of the Lombardy Regional government, the Antitrust Authority suggested revising several aspects of the draft Regional legislation in order to remove further restrictions on competition that appeared to be without justification, bringing it closer into line with the general spirit of the retail/wholesale trade reform introduced by Decree no. 114/98. In particular, the Authority noted that:
a) regional legislation should avoid introducing a model for assessing applications for authorization to set up medium and large commercial centres which is rigidly designed for the structural regulation of the market;
b) no measures should be reintroduced at the Regional level equivalent to the previous commodity tables;
c) the conditions under which municipal authorities could impose a two-year delay the opening of neighbourhood commercial centres should be further qualified, so that they only apply to cases in which authorization is absolutely necessary in the public interest;
d) when drafting town planning criteria no provisions should be adopted which are designed to pursue commercial programming objectives;
e) the municipal authorities should avoid the indefinite postponement of the establishment of medium and large commercial premises in their area by failing to update their town planning regulations.
In general terms, the Authority believes that in order to guarantee a "balance" in developing the commercial sector, quotas for the opening of new commercial premises are not required; to achieve this balance the local authorities could adopt measures, under the terms of the Decree, that acknowledge and enhance the role of small and medium commercial firms. It is essential to avoid hampering the development of the market by providing small and medium commercial forms with a favourable environment to be able to keep pace with the development of demand, finding with scope for competitiveness. This being so, the commodity tables should be abolished nationwide, to introduce greater flexibility into the range of services supplied by small traders. Another particularly important aspect is the series of measures provided by Legislative Decree No. 114/98, to which several sections of the draft legislation submitted by the Lombardy Regional government refer; measures to raise professional standards and provide appropriate training and refresher courses for traders; to provide incentives to establish commercial centres to help the existing small and medium traders; to draw up programmes to enhance the commercial network, to provide adequate infrastructure and services to meet the needs of consumers; to foster the establishment of associations between small and medium traders and to promote technical assistance centres.
Rome, 29 March 1999