Stampa

AS741 - Report on new highway code regulations for the driving school business


PRESS RELEASE


PRESS RELEASE



NEW HIGHWAY CODE:  ANTITRUST AUTHORITY, ANTI-COMPETITIVE DRIVING SCHOOL REGULATIONS


Restrictive elements introduced into a liberalized market. Review needed for draft regulations being prepared by the Ministry.


The highway code includes driving school regulations that risk creating anti-competitive effects. This is the substance of a report drawn up by the Antitrust Authority and submitted to Government and Parliament, and the same report points out additional competitive restrictions in the drafts of ministerial regulations.
According to the Antitrust Authority, requiring new driving schools to outfit themselves with every type of vehicle (cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses) that driving courses could require represents an unjustifiable entry barrier. While the new regulation is intended to ensure users a more comprehensive offer, it also prevents driving schools from limiting their own activities to A and B class licenses, making it especially difficult (if not impossible) for new operators to enter the market. Another entry barrier for startups in the sector is represented by the difficulties encountered in joining pre-existing business Consortiums, which help dilute the costs of vehicle acquisition and administration. As reasserted by the Antitrust Authority, the service sector has already been liberalized from national as well as Community regulations.
The Antitrust Authority also expressed doubts about the draft regulations being prepared by the Ministry of Infrastructure. In regards to the composition of certification commissions for driving school teachers and instructors, it is essential for Regionally-designated exam experts not be selected from 'professional associations of the most representative national driving schools,' because this would compromise the principal of neutrality with respect to the examiner.
Competition would be similarly restricted should aspiring driving school owners be obliged to perform an 'apprenticeship' of 24 months or more in one or more driving schools (i.e., with future competitors), as proposed in the draft regulation. This provision also clashes with the new code, which says that apprenticeships may also be carried out with other Regionally-accredited subjects. Lastly, the obligatory room sizes and furnishings specified by the regulations should be eliminated as being unjustifiable.


Rome, 13th August 2010