TNT POST ITALIA/POSTE ITALIANE
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
POSTAL SERVICES: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLE ABUSES OF DOMINANT POSITION BY POSTE ITALIANE (ITALIAN POSTAL SERVICE)
A set of strategic policies used in the context of liberalized services requires closer examination to determine whether the exploitation of advantages deriving from the existing universal service network resulted in the obstruction of competition.
In a meeting on October 15th, 2009, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) decided to launch an investigation to determine whether Poste Italiane (Italian Postal Service) had abused its dominant position by obstructing competitors in the context of liberalized services in the postal sector.
Poste was served notice of the upcoming investigation, which responds to a series of allegations by TNT Post Italia (a competing service), during inspections that were carried out in collaboration with Special Units of the Guardia di Finanza(Italian Tax Police). TNT had complained that Poste Italiane was exploiting its dominant position in the universal service sector by engaging in obstructionist behaviors that impeded provision of the Formula Certa service (postal delivery within a guaranteed time and date and accompanied by certification). During the course of 2009, furthermore, Poste Italiane began marketing its own PostaTime service for mail delivery within a guaranteed time and date, targeting some of TNT's main customers by offering extremely low prices that would be unsustainable without support from the Poste's integrated network (according to the allegation).
TNT also signaled the Poste Italiane’s potentially abusive conduct in regards to the supply of liberalized postal services to public administrations and other organizations. Poste Italiane allegedly engaged in exclusionary practices that obstructed competition by answering public calls for tender with offers that would be unsustainable in the absence of its integrated network and its dominant position in related markets.
If the investigation confirms these allegedly abusive conduct, they could represent a coordinated anti-competitive exclusionary strategy. The investigation must reach a conclusion by November 18th, 2010.
Rome - October 19th, 2009