AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

PITRUZZELLA TO THE ITALIAN SENATE: NO BY THE ANTITRUST AUTHORITY TO NEW LIMITS AND RESTRICTIONS ON SHOP OPENING HOURS

In a parliamentary hearing before the Commission for Industry, Commerce and Tourism of the Italian Senate, the President of the Antitrust Authority, Giovanni Pitruzzella, expressed an unfavourable opinion with regard to bills (number 1629 and 762) on the opening hours of shops that was approved by the House. The provision, according to the Antitrust Authority, “reintroduces a series of limitations and restrictions to the free determination of opening and closing hours of commercial establishments that go against the full liberalization of commercial activities”. In particular, the reservations expressed by Pitruzzella concern Article 1 that envisages an exception to this principle and identifies 12 days for compulsory closure that correspond to the main annual holidays.

Compared to a regulatory environment that sanctions the full freedom of traders, “the bill – as underlined by the President of the Antitrust Authority – intervenes to place obstacles to the liberalization of opening hours and days of commercial establishments, introducing in this way an obstacle to the free unfolding of commercial practice”. He also recalled that this principle is now in force in most European countries, most of which – including Sweden, Ireland and Portugal – have dropped, as in Italy, every restriction to the opening on Sundays and holidays. The general tendency is, therefore, in favour of “ever-increasing flexibility and freedom of choice on how to conduct economic activity”.

Even with regard to article 2 of the bill, Pitruzzella noted that the text makes provision for the right of municipalities to make arrangements for “non-binding territorial agreements” on the opening hours of shops, with tax incentives for micro, small and medium-sized businesses that accept to join. “This is certainly – in the opinion of the Antitrust – a provision that is likely to bring back the definition of opening hours to the planning remit of local authorities and in this way risk justifying the re-introduction of strict limits to the autonomy of enterprise”.

Finally, Article 3 allows Mayors the power to define, for a maximum period of three months, the opening hours of establishments for the public and for commercial and artisanal activities in certain areas of the territory that are busier at night. “This power – objected Pitruzzella – seems particularly harsh insofar as it allows Mayors to generally establish opening hours”, while “the introduction of restrictions on free economic initiative should be limited to what is strictly necessary for the achievement of specific needs that serve a public interest”. Hence, the conclusion of the President of the Antitrust Authority that “the road that should be followed must be in the way of a prompt and permanent removal of regulatory and administrative barriers that are still placed at local level for the liberalization process that is provided for under national legislation”.

Rome, 2 July 2015