AGCM

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato has concluded two investigations into Wind Tre S.p.A. and Vodafone Italia S.p.A. respectively, finding infringements of the Italian Consumer Code.

It has accordingly imposed fines of €4.3 million on Wind Tre and €6 million on Vodafone.

Specifically, the Authority found that, since June 2018, Wind Tre and Vodafone, in violation of Article 22 of the Consumer Code, have failed to provide clear and immediate information in their promotion of ‘personalised’ winback offers for mobile services aimed at former customers, mainly contacted by text message. The text messages sent by the two companies merely indicated the conditions of the proposed tariff plan in terms of price and traffic included while neglecting to mention any additional costs or restrictions on the use of the offers.

This conduct was considered likely to mislead the average consumer as to the content of the proposal and lead him/her to make a transactional decision that s/he would not otherwise have taken.

The Authority also ascertained that, in violation of Article 65 of the Consumer Code, during the subscription phase of all the mobile phone offers, Wind Tre and Vodafone pre-activated various services and/or options in addition to the main offer, with additional costs, without the prior and express consent of the consumers.

Rome, 6 December 2019