PRESS RELEASE

PRESIDENT PITRUZZELLA IN A HEARING OF THE HOUSE: “THE BILL ON COMPETITION IS FINE BUT MUCH STILL REMAINS TO BE DONE”

“Strong appreciation” to the Government for having presented for the first time a proposal for an annual law on competition, since it was planned in 2009; various proposals for further improvements because “much still remains to be done” in the field of liberalization in Italy. In a hearing that took place yesterday in the Joint Commissions on Finance and on Industry of the House, the President of the Antitrust Authority Giovanni Pitruzzella took stock of the situation and made an analysis on a sector-by-sector basis of the main aspects of the bill before Parliament. “It is the hope of the Authority – he said – that this measure can find its place in the framework of a wider process of entrepreneurial renewal and innovation in the country”.

Insurance. Pitruzzella recalled the suggestions of the Antitrust Authority to “limit the mechanism of tariffs on motor vehicle liability (RC Auto) foreseeing significant discounts for users in various circumstances, including the installation of the black box or the non-transferability of the right to compensation”, in such a way so as to “break the vicious circle between rising costs and increased premia” and to counter fraud. With specific reference to the installation of the black box, the President of the Authority drew attention in particular to the indication that this equipment “should be installed without any cost to the insured”, while “this fact does not appear to be expressly provided for in the bill and it would be appropriate to have a clearer explanation”.

Communications. With regard to conditions that are envisaged in case of cancellation or change of operator, Pitruzzella observed that “the objective of the bill would not seem to be the introduction of unjustified penalties for consumers, but rather the wish to curb certain practices that have recently developed on the market” – namely, promotions whereby, in the face of an initial discount, high “penalties” are in fact envisaged for any possible early withdrawal. In his view, the measure would seem intended to “safeguard consumers, and more generally the capacity of consumers to be able to perform their own role to discipline the market, ensuring that promotions by operators do not render competition inflexible, creating unjustified barriers to a change of operators”.

Energy. As Pitruzzella recalled, the Italian Antitrust Authority, already in the past “called for a gradual overcoming of schemes for the administrative definition of tariffs for the final sale of electricity and natural gas (the so-called scheme for enhanced protection), that is envisaged by the bill to be repealed as from 01 January 2018. The Antitrust Authority warns, however, that this step “cannot certainly happen suddenly, but must be the result of a phased process, accompanied by appropriate measures that are able to create a market in which consumers are actually the ones who are able to exercise their own sovereignty”. Therefore, the Authority notes that “the bill lacks provision for a more timely exit by consumers from the scheme for enhanced protection, as well as the establishment of clear and strict rules to reassure the most vulnerable consumers”.

Health services. While pointing out that “the bill goes in the right direction” with regard to the liberalization of pharmacies, Presidente Pitruzzella noted that “nonetheless there have still been no answers to proposals by the Authority with regard to the need to overcome the current quota system for the number of pharmacies that can be found on the national territory by means of the transformation of the current maximum number into the minimum number”. From this emerges, therefore, the hope of the Antitrust Authority that “the process for the liberalization of the distribution of medicines will continue not only through an increase in the number of businesses and their strengthening, but also by means of allowing the sale outside pharmacies, and always in the presence of a pharmacist, of medicines that fall under group C that are subject to a medical prescription, but whose cost is borne by the patient”.

In his hearing in the House during which he replied to several questions raised by the members of the two Parliamentary Commissions, the President of the Antitrust Authority also spoke on the topics of the liberalization of banking services (“There should be a higher level of transparency of costs and of conditions that are applied by credit institutions”) and of professional services, with particular reference to lawyers and notaries (“We hope to have an increase in the number of notaries”); taxi services and new platforms for mobility (“A unique opportunity to change in the context of a pro-competition environment the regulations for non-scheduled public transport”); public companies and local public services (“The bill does not include specific measures neither in terms of public companies nor with reference to the regulation of local public services, but the provisions of the bill Madia under discussion by the House seem to go in the direction desired by the Authority”).

Rome, 25 June 2015