PRESS RELEASE

WARNING FROM THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY: “NO TO COMPULSORY OPENING AND CLOSING TIMES FOR FUEL STATIONS”

Fuel stations on the road might stay open 24 hours a day, without any compulsory opening and closing times; and the municipal and regional norms which restrict the operators’ free initiative should adapt to these recommendations.

The Competition and Market Guarantor Authority, headed by Giovanni Pitruzzella, quotes first of all the Legislative Decree of 24 January 2012, converted into law the following March: the enactment aims at eliminating the norms which “prevent, limit or condition the offer of products and services to the consumer, in terms of time, space and modalities, or otherwise alter the conditions of full competition between the economic operators”. The same warning then refers to article 28(5) of Legislative Decree No. 98/2011, converted into law the following July, which compels fuel distribution stations to equip themselves with personnel-free equipment on an advance payment basis.

These norms, the Antitrust Authority maintains, “essentially ensure the availability of the product – albeit in the self-service modality – throughout the fuel distribution stations currently in existence over the national road network, at any time of the day or the night, be it on a weekday or on a public holiday”. The time restrictions represent, therefore, “a severe curtailment of the offer of services”.

Hence, so is the hope of the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority (Agcm), it is necessary to “reconsider the legislation in force and pay great attention to any intervention on the issue of the operating times of fuel distributions services”, inasmuch as “this type of intervention represents a restrictive and discriminatory practice”. According to the Antitrust Authority, in fact, “it no longer seems admissible to justify any prescription in this field by motivating it with the protection of a mere public interest in ensuring that the possibility of refueling is extended to consumers at large”. For all these reasons, “the Antitrust Authority is confident that the aforesaid remarks will receive due consideration”.

Rome, 16 March 2015