AGCM

The Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has launched two investigations into alleged unfair commercial practices of Telecom and Vodafone.

The two telephone operators allegedly established a significant telemarketing business consisting of contacting their actual or potential customers, for the purpose of direct selling or promoting their own products or services via telephone and with the help of call-centre operators, including by means of outsourced service companies. Phone calls are allegedly made to consumers’ private landlines and/or mobile phones, at any time of the day and an insistent manner.

The contested case in point could therefore include the allegation of aggressive conduct prohibited by the Consumer Code, should the repetitive, insistent and intrusive nature of the telephone calls be verified; these calls are often made for a limited period of time and in any case at unsuitable times of day.

In order to investigate these allegations, today, officers from ICA carried out a series of inspections at the headquarters of Telecom, Vodafone and some call centres, with the help of the Special Antitrust Unit of Guardia di Finanza.

Rome, 4 April 2017