FUELS: ANTITRUST TO GOVERNMENT – URGENT NEED FOR DATABASE OF PRICES AT THE PUMP TO HEIGHTEN COMPETITION

Consumers will be able to decide where to fill up at the lowest price. Model tested successfully in other European Countries and the USA at no additional public expense. Measures need to be introduced to cross-check the data being entered

A database of the fuel prices being charged by each filling station will enable consumers to select the least expensive place to refuel. The Antitrust presented the government with this recommendation in a report, signed by President Giovanni Pitruzzella, submitted to Prime Minister Mario Monti and Minister for Economic Development Corrado Passera.

According to the Antitrust, publishing the prices at the pump for each sales point, as foreseen by a law from 2009, would represent a strong stimulus for competition in the fuel distribution sector.  The real perception of price differences by motorists across the territory, in fact, is one of very few elements with the capacity to reduce the market power of existing businesses. While it will be easier for the managers of different stations to check on their competitors' pricing, thus leading to greater risks of collusion, such risks would be outweighed by improvements in the quality of consumer decision-making, as confirmed in other Countries.

According to the Antitrust, the database can be built at no additional public expense.  The models already tested in other countries, especially the USA, provide useful input for proposing synergies between public administration and the private businesses who, based on the discontinuous information being provided by motorists on a voluntary basis, are already meeting with success in the provision of this service.

The establishment of the database will need to be combined with measures, possibly involving the gathering of data directly from the consumers, designed to cross-check the reliability of the obligatory data submitted by the station managers.

Rome, 04 June 2012