PRESS RELEASE

FUEL SUPPLY: THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY TO GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT, IT IS NECESSARY TO REMOVE RESTRICTIONS IN ORDER TO GIVE ACCESS TO MORE EFFICIENT PLANTS AND TO RESTRUCTURE THE NETWORK SO AS TO FAVOUR DECREASE IN PRICES

It is also necessary to implement the regulation that liberalized contractual forms between plant owners and managers

In a report submitted to the Government and Parliament, approved on 11^th June 2013, the Antitrust Authority asked for the removal of the regional and national restrictive regulations which hinder the access of more efficient fuel pumps, and to carry out a massive restructuring of the network. According to the Authority, the general conditions under which the service is provided in Italy determine higher prices compared to the European average (the so-called “gap”), as well as lower qualitative standards of the network compared to those of the main European Countries (in terms of average supplying per pump). Therefore, it is necessary to remove all residual restrictions hindering the entrance in the market of more efficient and dynamic operators and restraining the development of greater competition in the ambit of fuel supply. Said restrictions also block a qualitative development of the sector: the Authority has asked for the removal of the regulation which limits the possibility to set up totally automatized pumps (the so-called ghosts) to the sole suburban areas. Moreover, the mentioned regulation has been recently object of the European Commission’s attention. It is also necessary to modify the national regulation which still enables, in particular through regional regulations, the introduction of asymmetric obligations for the opening of new fuel pumps, in terms of typology of fuels to supply and/or characteristics which the plant must necessarily satisfy.

With the aim to foster greater flexibility in the relationships between pump owners and managers, and to enable more competitive policies for the single pumps, the Authority has also asked for the implementation of the contractual relationships between pump owners and managers as provided for by article 17 of Decree-Law 1/2012 and not yet implemented. It is necessary for the law to provide for a direct substitutive power of the main administration (Ministry of Economic Development) in case of a continuous deadlock in negotiations.

Moreover, the Antitrust Authority deems fundamental to start a massive rationalization of the supply network, as it would be an element capable of determining a “structural” pressure as regards the decrease in the final purchasing prices. In particular, the Authority has asked for regulations capable of facilitating the exit from the market of the numerous pumps considered “incompatible” with regard to urban regulations and road safety present in the Italian network. This would enable the operators to concentrate their sales in a more reduced number of sale points, thus reducing the incidence of fixed prices on final prices. Since the competences of the local municipal bodies have remained substantially unapplied since 2001, it is necessary to envisage rigid substitutive powers aimed at finding said incompatible pumps, first of all at Regional level and then with reference to the central administration.

Rome, 27^th June 2013