PRESS RELEASE

Professional boards: Antitrust fine
against the national Board of Advocates
for having restricted competition over fees

Through a monetary penalty in the amount of 912.536,40 Euros, the Antitrust has fined the national Board of Advocates for having restricted competition, by reducing the advocates’ autonomy in the field of professional fees. The Authority’s decision thus finalizes an investigation into conduct by the national Board of Advocates in breach of article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

The Board of Advocates has been sanctioned by the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority for having published a circular by which it factually reintroduced the obligation to set minimum fees, no longer binding after the so-called 2006 “Bersani reform” and actually abrogated in 2012; and, furthermore, for having adopted an opinion against the Internet sites which offer affiliated consumers discounts on  professional services, based on the thesis that such a practice would conflict with the prohibition against soliciting work from clients sanctioned by the Ethical Code for the category.

According to the Antitrust, these two interventions were aimed at limiting competition among advocates on the prices and economic terms of professional services. The Authority has additionally warned the national Board of Advocates against a repetition in future of the same conduct.

Rome, 14 November 2014