PRESS RELEASE

ENVIRONMENT: FINE FROM ANTITRUST OF ALMOST 1.9 MILLION EURO TO HERA AND HERA AMBIENTE FOR ABUSE OF DOMINANT POSITION IN THE MARKETS RELATED TO THE DIFFERENTIATED COLLECTION OF PAPER IN SEVERAL MUNICIPALITIES IN EMILIA ROMAGNA

Negative effects on the development of markets for the sale of waste paper to paper mills and on the cost of collection payable by citizens and businesses

A penalty of € 1,898,699,976 to the companies HERA and Hera Ambiente for abuse of dominant position in the markets related to the differentiated collection of paper in several municipalities of Emilia Romagna. This has been decided at its meeting of 27 February 2014, the Antitrust Authority. According to the reconstruction carried out by the Antitrust Authority, Hera, who runs a monopoly in the differentiated collection in the provinces of Bologna, Modena, Ferrara, Ravenna, Forlì-Cesena and Rimini, along with Hera Ambiente (operating in the downstream sectors, from storage, to waste treatment, until the sale of waste paper to paper mills) have abused their dominant position by preventing access to cellulosic waste of differentiated joint urban collection to competitors of its subsidiary Akron, operating in the production and sale of waste paper destined to paper mills: waste paper collected from the joint urban collection of HERA were in fact transferred to Akron directly, without any fair, transparent and non-discriminatory comparison with regard to the offerings of competitors and at a price lower than the market. The low revenues earned by Hera lead to a higher level of tariff for the urban hygiene services paid by the citizens-users of the municipalities in which HERA manages the collection. In parallel Akron, to which all waste resulting from the collection of paper were sold at an affordable price, was able to exercise a significant power of market in the sale of waste paper, which has resulted in an increase in the prices charged for paper mills.

Hera Ambiente, within the next three months, will have to notify the Authority of the documentation relating to the tendering procedures for the transfer of cellulosic waste that the same company assured to be willing to ban, and, subsequently, the outcome of the races themselves.

Rome, 10 March 2014