FUEL SUPPLY AGREEMENTS: DEFERRED DEADLINE REQUEST REJECTED
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
The Authority has rejected the request to extend the deadline for fuel supply agreements
The Competition Authority today rejected the request of the Unione petrolifera to extend the deadline for concluding the ongoing proceedings into "fuel supply agreements" which had already been put back at the request of the oil companies from 11 May to 8 June 2000.
The Authority's decision follows the notification submitted on 15 May 2000 of the 10 May 2000 Agreement (signed by the government, Unione Petrolifera, and the service station managers' associations Fegica, Faib and Figisc and the associations of the owners of privately-owned service stations, Assopetroli and Consorzio Grandi Reti), in which Unione Petrolifera requested a waiver to the prohibition on agreements restricting competition in relation to one point in the agreement relating to the methods of negotiating with the service station managers. Unione Petrolifera also requested this part of the agreement to be included as part of the ongoing investigation, and therefore asked for the deadline to be extended.
The Authority turned down this request in the absence of the conditions that permit the Authority to exercise the right to examine an application for an exception to a restrictive agreement as part of a pending investigation. The request for a waiver referred to aspects falling outside the specific scope of the ongoing investigations, and would therefore have to be addressed separately.
Federazione Gestori Impianti Carburanti e Affini (Fegica) did not ask for an extension. On 16 May 2000 it had already sent to the Authority a copy of its Agreement of 10 May 2000, requesting a comprehensive assessment of it in the light of competition legislation.
Rome, 18 May 2000