PRESS RELEASE

PUBLIC SERVICES: ANTITRUST SANCTIONS MESSINAMBIENTE FOR ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION IN THE WASTE COLLECTION AND RECOVERY SECTOR

52 thousand euro fine. The company, now in liquidation, obstructed the tendering of the collection service by the local Messina 3 corporation.

A 52 thousand euro fine imposed on Messinambiente for having abused its dominant position - so ruled the Antitrust, which took into account the economic status of the company (which is now in liquidation) while determining the fine.

The investigatory proceeding was launched in response to a report filed by the local Messina 3 corporation (ATO ME 3), which is owned by the municipalities of Messina, Taormina and Tremestieri Etneo and which announced two tenders to select a new manager, both of which were abandoned.

The Antitrust established that Messinambiente, which has been the direct contractor for public sanitation services for the Municipality of Messina since 1999, abused its dominant position by denying and postponing the delivery of information that was crucial for proper execution of the competitive tendering process being used by the local corporation to select a new contractor.

According to the Authority, Messinambiente implemented an intentional strategy to delay and block these procedures, obstructing their proper execution, changing the competitive dynamics and prejudicing the participation of other competitors.

According to the evidence gathered by the Antitrust, the strategy used by Messinambiente to exclude the potential new service managers took the form of its refusal to supply the requested data to the commissioning body (ATO ME 3) followed by the transmission of this data in a manner that rendered it useless. It also neglected to transmit information about the personnel members entitled to enjoy workplace reintegration or who were engaged in disputes with the company. In this way the company deprived potential competitors of information that was essential to the correct formulation of bids to be presented to ATO ME 3.

Rome - 13 April 2012