AIE SUBJECT OF INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLE ANTI-COMPETITIVE CONDUCT IN MARKET FOR SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLE ANTI-COMPETITIVE ARRANGEMENT WITHIN THE ITALIAN PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION
The Italian Competition Authority, at its meeting on 13 September 2007, decided to launch an investigation into AIE [Associazione Italiana Editori, or Italian Publishers' Association] over possible anti-competitive arrangements in the market for school textbooks.
Yesterday Antitrust personnel, with the assistance of the Special Market Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza [Fiscal Police], carried out inspections at the premises of the parties involved.
In the view of the Antitrust Authority, the structure of this industry, marked by market shares that have remained stable over time, may be the result of corporate conduct intended to interfere with the normal free play of competitive forces.
In this context, AIE, by making available to all its members its databases of detailed information about types and pricing of books, may have facilitated the coordination of publishers' marketing and distribution policies. Basically, AIE, as an association of companies, may have given its members indications as to market approaches amounting to anti-competitive agreements.
In recent weeks, the Antitrust Authority had received complaints from the ALTROCONSUMO consumer association, pointing to significant increases in the price of secondary school textbooks that in some cases exceeded 10%. This phenomenon, according to the complaint, has been systematically repeated for a number of years.
Rome, 20 September 2007