AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

NON-SCHEDULED PUBLIC TRANSPORT TO PORTS AND AIRPORTS: PERMITS TO BE GRANTED ALSO FOR TAXIS AND CAR RENTALS WITH DRIVER (NOLEGGIO CON CONDUCENTE, NCC) WITH LICENSES ISSUED BY MUNICIPALITIES OF OTHER REGIONS.
A REQUEST BY THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY TO THE LAZIO REGION

L’Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato (Italian Competition Authority) sent a report to the Lazio Region on various anti-competitive restrictive practices concerning rules governing the operation of non-scheduled public transport and rules on the role of drivers.

In fact current legislation provides that for connections to ports and airports open to civilian traffic, the only persons who are authorised to provide a taxi service and a car rental service with driver are holders of licences and permits issued by the provincial capital of the Region as well as by the municipality or municipalities within whose territory the ports and airports fall.

For the Antitrust Authority these provisions adversely affect the level of competition that is typical of connections to ports and airports because they limit the number of persons who are allowed to provide a taxi service and a car rental service with driver on the basis of a yardstick that is of a territorial nature and discriminatory and that is unjustified from a perspective of general public interest.  The existence of restrictions of a territorial nature, inasmuch as they are not functional and do not correspond to the needs of the Regions, moreover, is in contrast with the European principles of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide service enshrined in the EU Treaty, unjustifiably obstructing the exercise of these freedoms.

For these reasons the Antitrust Authority hoped that these considerations could form the basis for a comprehensive fresh review of the matter by the Lazio Region.

Rome, 15 September 2014