On this occasion, the top management of the Authority, led by the President Roberto Rustichelli, were received by the President of Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to whom they presented the Report on the activities carried out in 2019

10 October 2020 marked the 30th anniversary of the Italian Antitrust Law entering into force and the establishment of the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato. Last week the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, received the President of the Authority, Roberto Rustichelli, at the Quirinale, together with Commissioners Gabriella Muscolo and Michele Ainis, and the Secretary General, Filippo Arena. On this occasion the Report on the activities carried out in 2019 was presented to President Mattarella.

During the past year, the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato carried out 89 investigations in the area of consumer protection and 34 in the area of competition protection and imposed fines of over 766 million euro. These resources were paid into the State budget, and 25 million euro were allocated to institutional projects in favour of consumers.

1. Protection and promotion of competition

The Authority's action was marked by its particular severity against cartels between companies, in particular those affecting public tenders. In 2019, the Italian Competition Authority conducted 34 investigations for breaches of competition law, abuse of economic dependence and rules of commercial relations regarding the sale of agricultural and agri-food products. 82 advocacy opinions were issued and a sector inquiry on Big Data was concluded; the latter was conducted together with the Authority for Communications and the Authority for the Protection of Personal Data. Particular attention has been paid to repressing abuses of economic dependence, with the conclusion of 9 investigations.

In particular, fines of almost 1.6 million euro were imposed for abuses of dominant position engaged by companies operating in the transport sector and in the leisure, cultural and sporting activities sector. The Italian Competition Authority also examined 65 concentrations and carried out 62 inspections. Among the interventions carried out, some concerned competition in gas distribution, others anti-competitive agreements on corrugated cardboard prices and anti-competitive billing arrangements by telephone operators. Also the agri-food chain and professional services were scrutinised under the Authority's lens.

With reference to the activity carried out in 2019, the Italian Competition Authority obtained a 4-star rating, for the first time since 2003, ranking eighth overall in the "Rating Enforcement" published each year by the Global Competition Review, which specialises in benchmarking the activities of all competition authorities worldwide.

2. Consumer protection

On the consumer protection front, last year the Authority conducted 89 investigations for unfair commercial practices, violation of consumer rights, unfair terms, accessibility of payments and non-compliance. In addition, the Italian Competition Authority intervened via moral suasion, obtaining the removal of the detected illegality profiles in 59 cases. The cases were mainly reported by consumers (55%) and consumer associations (15%), which, among other things, continued to use the online form available on the Authority's website (www.agcm.it) - sending 2,714 complaints - and to call the contact centre, which received 5,529 calls. In total, fines for unfair commercial practices, violations of consumer rights and non-compliance with previous resolutions led to fines of 74.663 million euro, up from around 65 million euro in 2018.

The main interventions concerned the e-commerce sector - in particular buy and share practices -, the energy sector (unfair commercial offers, unfair promotion and marketing of photovoltaic systems, misleading fuel promotion) and the communications, finance and insurance areas (joint selling of consumer credit with insurance policies, joint selling of real estate mortgages with insurance policies and current accounts, pay TV services).

3. Legality rating

The legality rating also saw an upward trend, with 4,108 proceedings concluded in 2019. This trend is also confirmed in 2020, with 3,592 proceedings already concluded on 30 September. The rating is highly appreciated by companies because it allows them both to increase creditworthiness, thus obtain access to credit more easily, and to reduce by 30% the amount of the security deposit to be paid in public procurement tenders.

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The Italian Competition authority continued its action with even greater momentum since the beginning of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic has not only caused serious problems for the health and lives of citizens but has also hit the national and international economy hard.

The economic difficulties faced by many Italian companies led the Authority to use moral suasion in 110 cases in the first nine months of 2020 compared to 59 in the previous year, commitments were accepted in 15 cases compared to 14 in 2019, while fines were imposed in 49 cases compared to 89 in the previous year (for a total of 43.9 million euro compared to 74.6 million euro).

Precisely because of the investigations launched and the measures taken to protect consumers from unfair commercial practices following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, last May the Agcm received a particularly important certificate. The European Commission, with a letter signed by the Director General of DG Justice and Consumers, Salla Saastamoinen, expressed its appreciation for the action taken to combat opportunistic conduct by companies, recognising that the Italian Authority is the reference model for the activities undertaken by other authorities in the fight against the spread of illegal practices related to products marketed as protective products against Covid-19.

Rome, 21 October 2020