PRESS RELEASE

ITALIAN ANTITRUST AUTHORITY SUSPENDS TWO E-COMMERCE SITES FOR CANCELLATION OF ORDERS AND FAILURE TO PAY REFUNDS

As part of the constant monitoring of the e-commerce sector, the Italian Antitrust Authority suspended operations by the company MOBILE STORE S.r.l. and by the company WM S.R.L.S. that operated respectively through the sites http://www.phoneshopping.it/ and http://www.bitprice.it and offered computer products for sale.

Precautionary measures were taken as a result of numerous reports and on the basis of evidence gathered during investigations that took place jointly with the special Antitrust Unit of the Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza), through which it was possible to ascertain very high rates of cancelled orders for which consumers had not received the price refunds to which they were entitled.

The suspensions were applied due to the fact that the practices in question were found to be particularly detrimental to the interests of consumers in the sense that the two companies immediately received the amounts that were requested even in cases where the product was not available or where a lot of time was required before the product would be available.

Rome, 21 December 2015