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PRESS RELEASE

MORE COMPETITION MORE GROWTH A CONFERENCE IN THE ANTITRUST OFFICE

More competition, more growth.  Those participating in the Conference on “The new competition law: problems and prospects”, organised by the Department of Law at the University la Sapienza and the Antitrust Authority, at the ICA Auditorium in Rome all agree on this conclusion. Together with the President of the Authority, Giovanni Pitruzzella, there intervened the Minister of Economic Development, Federica Guidi; the Director General of Confindustria, Marcella Panucci; the Professors Marco D’Alberti (Professor of Administrative law at La Sapienza) and Mario Sebastiani (Professor of Political Economy at Tor Vergata University). The debate was moderated by Federico Fubini, economic columnist for La Repubblica newspaper.

Opening the meeting and greeting the guests, President Pitruzzella said that the draft law on competition, prepared by this government for the first time since 2009, represents “an excellent point of departure” to promote the recovery and growth of the country.  “The suggestions of the Authority – he underlined – were adopted and improved: this is a fundamental step in the process of opening markets, without being a book on dreams.”  He then added: “Now it is up to Parliament to open a wide debate to take stock of the market and on capitalism in Italy”.

Minister Guidi, after having acknowledged the “incisiveness and accuracy of the reports presented to Parliament” by the Antitrust Authority, observed that the Bill on competition corresponds to the need for structural reforms in the market, as well as a legal obligation. The Minister of Economic Development gave three guidelines: “To encourage the demand and safeguard the consumers, through increased information and transparency; support the offer, exceeding the ‘closed areas’ of services and responding to market logic; mark a positive discontinuity and fuel innovation”.  From here there starts “the confrontation and challenge in Parliament” to integrate and further improve the Bill. “By linking the Bill to the Economics and Finance Document – assured Minister Guidi – the approval times will be rapid”.

During the debate other speakers agreed on the need for an annual law on competition, in order to adapt the regulatory instruments to the continuous evolution of the market. In his speech, Professor D’Alberti underlined the importance of “sectorial and transversal measures” calling for changes to the Bill: for example, on postal services (“We must overcome the exclusivity to Poste Italiane”) and on the professional sector of notaries (“The Notary is a third party, the lawyer is not”).  While Professor Sebastiani in particular insisted on whether to “combine pluralism and efficiency”, beginning from the local public services and the municipal utilities.  In conclusion, Marcella Panucci expressed the overall appreciation of Confindustria on the Bill presented by the government, sharing the introduction of limited liability companies in certain professional services (such as pharmacies) and instead expressing doubts on new rules concerning transfers of immovable (especially with regards to the territorial skills).

Rome, 29 April 2015