AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

PROFESSIONAL ORDERS: ANTITRUST AUTHORITY LAUNCHES TWO INVESTIGATIONS INTO POSSIBLE ANTI-COMPETITIVE ARRANGEMENTS INVOLVING THE ORDER OF GEOLOGISTS AND THE ORDER OF PSYCHOLOGISTS

The two proceedings must ascertain whether, by way of the provisions contained in their respective codes of conduct, tariffs decided by the Orders have been made binding, thus standardizing professional fees

The Italian Competition Authority has decided to open two separate fact-finding investigations into the National Council of Geologists and the National Council of the Order of Psychologists to determine whether, by way of the provisions contained in their professional codes of conduct intended to standardize the fees for professional services, they may have violated competition rules.
The investigations were launched following a recent Antitrust survey into the state of implementation of competition principles in professional services and must evaluate whether the professional codes, by citing the tariff as a parameter of “decorum” in determining fees and adducing the threat of punitive action, constitute anti-competitive arrangements.
Specifically:
THE GEOLOGISTS' PROFESSIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT, in the current version approved in December 2006, specifies regarding the determination of fees, that “the professional tariff, by defining only the minimum compensation for a geologist's professional activity exercised in various forms, constitutes a legitimate point of reference for the protection of the professional dignity of the individual geologist and of the profession as well as of the quality of service, until such time as a new tariff is published based on parameters exceeding the minimum”. Article 18, furthermore, states that, “as a guarantee of quality of service and pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Article 2233 of the Italian Civil Code, a geologist practising in one of the various forms – as an individual, in a company or association – must always charge a fee commensurate with the importance of the service rendered and with professional decorum. The Order oversees compliance with Paragraph 2 of Article 2233 of the Civil Code which constitutes a professional obligation: any violation will lead to disciplinary proceedings”.
THE PSYCHOLOGISTS' PROFESSIONAL CODE OF CONDUCT stipulates that, at the beginnng of a relationship with the patient, the psychcologist will agree “a professional fee. In any and all cases, such fee must be commensurate with the importance of the service and the decorum of the profession”. The unified text of the professional tariff of psychologists, attached to the code, represents the parameter for evaluating the size of the fee. The code itself stipulates that non-compliance with the established rules and any action or omission contrary to the decorum, dignity and correct exercise of the profession will be punished according to the procedures established by the disciplinary Rules.

In the Authority's view, the provisions cited from the two Codes could reintroduce into the regulatory system what are effectively minimum tariffs, thus contravening the law.


Rome, 28 May 2009