AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

WASTE WATER DISPOSAL: THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY LAUNCHES A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION AGAINST 6 COMPANIES IN THE REGIONS OF LOMBARDY AND PIEDMONT FOR AN ALLEGED AGREEMENT RESTRICTING COMPETITION

The companies CRE, ALAN, SANGALLI, ECOTRASS, VAR and REDAELLI allegedly entered into an agreement limiting competition in call for tenders from 2008 to 2012 as regards collection, treatment and disposal of sediment deriving from the purification of the sewerage system in the Regions of Lombardy and Piedmont.

In a meeting on 11^th June 2013, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato resolved to launch a preliminary investigation so as to verify if 6 companies in the waste water sediment disposal sector entered into a restrictive agreement aimed at limiting competition in call for tenders for the entrusting of said service. According to the Antitrust Authority, the companies CRE, ALAN, SANGALLI, ECOTRASS, VAR and REDAELLI likely created a sharing plan as regards call for tenders in the Regions of Lombardy and Piedmont from 2008 to 2012. Such considerations are based on a series of conducts such as: the choice not to participate in the call for tenders so as to make them unattended, or the favouring, each time, of one of the competing companies, or the decision to participate presenting identical economic offers for reparatory aims, or the choice to participate with competitors (through ATI – Temporary Association of Companies - or by means of pooling) with the sole aim to share out the call for tenders.

The preliminary investigation must be closed within 30^th June 2014.

Rome, 21^st June 2013