PRESS RELEASE

Commitments made by architects to the Competition Authority:
no to fixed professional fees, yes to estimates

At the conclusion of an investigation launched last May, the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has accepted and rendered obligatory the commitments formally undertaken by the Rome, Florence and Turin Institutes of Architects with regard to professional fees. In the view of the AGCM, by adopting calculation systems and publishing them on their own websites for their members to use to calculate their fees, the three institutes had introduced “a surreptitious application of professional fees which had been permanently revoked” in 2012, in violation of EU and domestic legislation on free competition. They will now be required to remove these systems permanently from their websites, while drawing their members’ attention to their complete freedom to set their fees which they charge for their professional services.

At the same time, the three Institutes of Architects have pledged to publicise among their members the obligation to submit a “detailed estimate” to their customers, so that a “written agreement” can be subsequently drawn up before the service in offered. In addition to making it easier for consumers to choose between offers, this instrument may “increase the degree of transparency in the market”.

Rome, 05 December 2014