PRESS RELEASE

AUTOSTRADE SPA: ANTITRUST SANCTIONS THE COMPANY FOR UNFAIR COMMERCIAL PRACTICE, INADQUATE MANAGEMENT, FAILURE TO ASSIST MOTORISTS AND FAILURE TO PROVIDE SUFFICIENT INFORMATION DURING THE SNOWFALL OF 17^TH DECEMBER 2010.

FINE OF EUR 350,000

Autostrade SpA failed to adequately manage the emergency situation between 17^th and 18^th December 2010 in the motorway section for which it is responsible on the A1 (Florence area).  In particular, the company failed to correctly and rapidly provide information regarding the traffic blockage that formed.

Autostrade SpA receives a fine of EUR 350,000 for unfair commercial practice. The sanction was decided by the Antitrust Authority for its management of the crisis situation created mainly in the Florence area of the A1 motorway on 17^th and 18^th December last year, when abundant snowfall led to a total paralysis of traffic.

Motivations for the sanction include the inaccuracy of information provided to thousands of travellers who were using the motorway section in question at the time and the inadequate management of the emergency, due to both the lack of adequate procedures and the failure to apply those that were in place.

According to the Authority, Autostrade Spa omitted to provide or provided incomplete or in any case delayed information regarding the traffic conditions in the section of the A1 motorway (Florence section), thereby preventing consumers from avoiding joining or continuing on the motorway section in question.

Despite disposing of precise information tools for verifying the traffic conditions on the motorway sections for which it is responsible, therefore including the critical situation which occurred, Autostrade did not transfer adequate information, mainly through Variable Message Panels (PMV) or ISORADIO, regarding the critical conditions on the motorway sections in question.

Complaints received by the Authority during the course of the investigation emphasise that Autostrade did not transmit correct and rapid information to consumers, which could have suggested leaving the motorway, interrupting the journey or using possible alternative routes. The Variable Message Panels in fact presented incongruous messages of varying seriousness (from blockage due to snow to traffic jams in places), not revealing the true extent of the block; Isoradio was also not provided with adequate information corresponding to the real situation, leading many consumers to erroneously continue their journey or even calmly join the motorway completely unaware of the critical situation.

Furthermore, the information and measures taken to assist the thousands of consumers blocked on the motorway for more than a day (some for up to 30 hours), in extreme climate conditions, in complete isolation, unable to get in contact by telephone with Autostrade for information on the traffic conditions or ask for help, were also considered insufficient.

In particular, a deficit was found in the procedures and organisation of the company, both regarding the methods for providing information to users and the management of traffic in emergency situations, in regard to a weather event that had been widely forecast, or actions that, if diligently followed, would have allowed for the discomfort created by the block in traffic to be avoided or at least considerably mitigated.

In applying the sanction, of a maximum amount of EUR 500,000 as set down by the Consumer Code, the Authority took account of the conciliation procedures initiated by the company for the motorists who were trapped during the snowfall.

Rome, 25^th July 2011