The Authority has closed an investigation initiated in March 2019 against Società Italiana Sementi - S.I.S. S.p.A., finding that three distinct conducts implemented by the company breached the rules governing business relations regarding the sale of agricultural and agri-food products, as provided for by Article 62 of Italian Decree Law 1/2012.

In particular, S.I.S., which holds the exclusive right to market the ‘Cappelli’ wheat seed variety, under a licence agreement signed in 2016 with CREA has: (1) made the supply of seeds conditional upon the return by the growers of the entire wheat produced, imposing on the growers a so-called chain agreement; (2) delayed or even refused, in an unjustifiably selective manner, the supply of seeds to the growers; (3) significantly and unjustifiably increased the prices of seeds. A fine of €50,000 has been imposed for each one of the three conducts.

The Authority’s intervention confirms its close attention paid to unfair commercial practices in the agri-food chain, in order to prevent the imbalance between the negotiating positions of the parties from being exploited so as to impose unfair conditions on the vulnerable contractor (in this case, the agricultural companies interested in cultivating a valuable variety of durum wheat).

Rome, 27 November 2019