AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

ANTITRUST ADOPTS NEW GUIDELINES ON SANCTIONS

The Antitrust Authority has adopted new guidelines on sanctions aimed at defining, even on the basis of guidelines and recommendations of the administrative judge, a specific calculation method in countering the violations of consumer protection.

The purpose of the Antitrust Authority’s decision is to increase the deterrent effect of its sanctions policy, even through increased transparency of its decision-making process and calculation of the process to follow, while facilitating a full and effective judicial review.

The final adoption of the guidelines was preceded by a period of public consultation, during which interested parties could submit their comments, thus creating the conditions for a shared regulation and better enforcement.

Amongst the most qualifying aspects of the new sanctions regime, the following is to be remembered:

-    the introduction of a minimum percentage (equal to 15% of the value of sales), for signs of price fixing, market sharing and limitation of production, which are known as the most serious infringements of the rules of competition;

-    the possibility of increasing the sanction up to 50% if the company responsible has a particularly high turnover worldwide compared to the value of sales of goods or services which are the subject of the infringement or else belongs to a group of significant economic dimensions;

-    the possibility of further increasing the sanction to reflect gains improperly made by the company responsible for the infringement;

-    consideration, such as possible mitigating circumstances, of the adoption and effective application of a specific programme of compliance and the introduction of amnesty plus, or the possibility of a further reduction of the sanction if the company provides information which is deemed as decisive to find a different infringement and falling within the scope of a leniency programme.

Rome, 31 October 2014