PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY FINES ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL AND DENTAL SURGEONS OF THE PROVINCE OF BOLZANO FOR AN AGREEMENT RESTRICTING COMPETITION
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PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY FINES ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL AND DENTAL SURGEONS OF THE PROVINCE OF BOLZANO FOR AN AGREEMENT RESTRICTING COMPETITION
The Association penalized consumers by obstructing the efforts of a consumer advocacy group to facilitate price comparison for different types of dental services. The conduct in question must cease within a period of 90 days. The modesty of the five thousand euro fine is attributable to a law that the Antitrust Authority has already contested several times: according to it, calculation of fines on the basis of associate member earnings is prohibited.
On October 7th, 2009, Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato ruled that the Association of Medical and Dental Surgeons of the Province of Bolzano set up an agreement restricting competition to obstruct the 'On-line Price Transparency' initiative, which was created by a consumer advocacy group to enable residents to compare the different prices offered by competing professionals. Due to a law that the Antitrust Authority has contested several times, the five thousand euro fine had to be calibrated to the income of the Association itself. Calculation of fines on the basis of associate member earnings is legally prohibited for agreements imposed in the name of an association.The Authority has given the Association a period of 90 days to terminate the contested practices.
The need for the investigation was signaled when the Centro Tutela Consumatori Utenti di Bolzano (CTCU), a consumer advocacy group, lodged a complaint to the effect that the Association was obstructing the website publication of a price table comparing 26 different types of professional services provided by dental studios in Bolzano.
During the course of the investigation, the Authority determined that the Association had issued a series of letters between May 2005 and April 2008 to discourage dentists from participating in the initiative, upon penalty of disciplinary proceedings and possible removal of the professional's listing from the Association website. The CTCU was unable to implement the project until March 17th, 2008, when a table with the names and prices for 10 of the approximately 350 professional members of the Association of Bolzano was first published on the advocacy group’s website. After receiving further communications from the Association, seven of these dental surgeons withdrew their consent to publish their names, though they continued to allow publication of their price lists.
According to the Antitrust Authority, the issuance of these missives to associate members constituted the establishment of an agreement restricting competition (which is still in effect) that substantially obstructed the publication and comparison of the fees being charged by dental surgeons belonging to the Association of Bolzano Registry. The agreement obstructed the use of an essential competitive lever, thus restricting professional competition with particularly negative consequences for consumers in a sector that already suffers from low levels of competition.
Rome - November 2nd, 2009