The draft decree was approved by Cabinet on 19 September and is now being examined by the relevant parliamentary commissions; it foresees the maintenance of a single “system” for the collection and handling of used lead-based batteries, corresponding with the present Consorzio Obbligatorio Batterie al Piombo Esauste e Rifiuti Piombosi – COBAT [Obligatory Consortium for Used Lead Batteries and Lead Waste]. In the Authority’s view, instead, the national systems for the collection, recovery and disposal of waste must be organized so as to protect and promote competition by authorizing multiple parties to operate in competition with each other; this would lead to greater efficiencies with consequent benefits for the environment.

The Antitrust Authority considers that making COBAT the only possible “system” for collecting and processing used lead batteries not only unjustifiably alters the structure of already existing markets by seriously interfering with the freedom of businesses to act but also exceeds any reasonable criterion of proportionality in defining a regime that precludes the development of any competition in the industry. By removing from the market various stages of the industrial process and making it impossible for businesses, even if they have the requisite technical, safety and administrative skills, to operate outside the “system”, the proposal also prejudices the possibility of achieving the important environmental objectives that underlie the EU regulations that this decree is intended to implement. Allowing only a single authorized “system” to operate in the collection and disposal of used batteries may also have the effect of depriving the country of a valuable resource, secondary lead, which if not processed within the single channel available, namely COBAT, may simply be redirected for recovery in other countries.