PRESS RELEASE

MILITARY DOCKYARDS: ANTITRUST LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION TO VERIFY THE EXISTENCE OF AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN 13 TENDER WINNING COMPANIES FOR A TOTAL VALUE OF MORE THAN 14 MILLION EUROS

The proceeding on the basis of a report of the Ministry of Defence, was notified yesterday to the 13 companies concerned in the course of some inspections carried out in collaboration with the Competition Group of the Special Markets Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza

The Competition Authority, at a meeting on 12 June 2014, decided to launch an investigation into whether the conduct held by 13 companies during three tenders held by the Ministry of Defence for remediation services for pollutants to be performed on vessels at the dockyards, for a total value of over 14 million euros, may constitute an anti-competitive agreement. The measure was notified today during some inspections carried out in cooperation with the Competition Group of the Special Markets Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza.

The investigation stems from a report sent by the Ministry of Defence on the behaviours of companies that have participated in three tenders of Community level called by the ministry itself in the 2011-2013 period, for the award of services for cleaning and disposal of potentially polluting or dangerous materials on the naval units at the dockyards of Taranto, La Spezia and Augusta: the tenders were divided each into three homogeneous and independent lots, each of them relating to a specific air and sea pole (Taranto, La Spezia and Augusta). The companies involved in this proceeding are Tecnosit, TPS Taranto, S.i.m.a.n., Maren, Consorzio Chio.Me, Serveco, Coibesa Thermosound, Technomont Taranto, Co.m.e.r.i.n, Work Service in voluntary liquidation, Metalblok, Ecoedil Professional and S.a.i.t., who participated in the tenders with three distinct groupings of enterprises.

According to preliminary reports conducted by the Competition Authority, the behaviour of companies would show some anomalies that seem incompatible with the normal course of competitive procedures for tenders, such as to make feasible the existence of an agreement aimed at market sharing: this sense is supported by the specular and symmetric tender strategy that led to the absence of competitive overlapping of groups on the various lots subject of award (with the exception of Lot 3 of the tender in 2011), despite the call also allowed to compete simultaneously on multiple lots. Equally, the possible existence of a collusive practise may be signalled by the choice of competitors to reduce progressively over the three tenders the offered discounts up to remain at extremely low rates, no more than 2% on all lots: this conduct, if confirmed, may have altered significantly the free formation of prices, minimising offered markdowns and thus causing an unnatural increase in the economic value of the order.

The process must be completed by 30 September 2015.

Rome, 18 June 2014