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The protection of consumer rights has also been at the subject of national competitions for junior and high school students. Prizes to the winning classes were awarded during the event at the Auditorium in Rome

The communication campaign, dedicated to the protection of consumer rights, #convienesaperlo, organised by the Italian Competition Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE), ended with an event at the Auditorium - Parco della Musica, in Rome.

After the welcome speech by the European Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders, the proceedings were opened by the President of Italian Competition Authority, Roberto Rustichelli, and started with a round table on “The rights of Consumers and young people”, followed by the presentation of the results of the campaign and the awarding ceremony to the winning classes of the national competition held during #convienesaperlo. Finally, Professor Michele Ainis, member of the Board of the Italian Competition Authority, presented the third edition of the “Italian Competition Authority Award” that this year will be reserved to four categories: consumer associations, business associations, journalists, university students.

THE CAMPAIGN #CONVIENESAPERLO...

The campaign, funded by the MiSE and inaugurated in November 2020, had three goals: informing citizens of the main consumer rights protected by European and Italian laws; highlighting the role of the Italian Competition Authority and the Ministry of Economic Development as defenders of these rights; encouraging consumers to report alleged unfair practices to the Italian Competition Authority.

#convienesaperlo was organised as a national communications campaign on TV, radio, the web and in print with worldwide media coverage; a campaign on the social channels of the Italian Competition Authority (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) and the Instagram channel@convienesaperlo; a dedicated microsite (www.convienesaperlo.it) with specific materials and a video tutorial to explain clearly and simply how to submit an online report to the Italian Competition Authority.

 … AND THE RESULTS

The campaign was very successful thanks to a multi-channel strategy (digital, social, radio, video). The Authority's Facebook page between December 2020 and October 2021 for example reached 2,385,828 users and the Instagram account of@convienesaperlo 18,600 users. The website www.convienesaperlo.it and social profiles in the year of the campaign had a total of 21,485,048 views and 736,452 clicks. The effectiveness of #convienesaperlo is also confirmed by the increase in the number of reports received by the Italian Competition Authority that from an average 12,798 a year for the period 2016-2020 reached 16,445 between reports 24 November 2020 and 17 October 2021.

THE SCHOOL COMPETITIONS

A part of the campaign was dedicated to the activity for schools. Two national competitions were held, one for junior schools (“Competition rights”) and one for high schools (“Become an Influencer of the Italian Competition Authority”). In the first case, students answered the questions of a quiz, while in the second they were asked to produce a video of no more than 60 seconds on one or more consumer rights or the role of the Italian Competition Authority in defending said rights and the importance of reporting misconduct. The videos were voted by a “home audience” - who connected to the site www.convienesaperlo.it and “liked” their favourite works - and then by a Commission of 5 experts. The three winners of both competitions received a cash prize (€1,500, €1,000 and €500), to use to purchase materials for the class. See the three winning videos on the website www.convienesaperlo.it.

THE ACTIVITY FOR SMES

The campaign also focused on small and medium-sized enterprises and on 12 October an online training meeting was organised to discuss the existing laws on consumer rights and what SMEs do to protect said rights - especially for purchases on the web - and avoid fines from the Italian Competition Authority. In addition to representatives of the Italian Competition Authority and Ministry of Economic Development, the representatives of CNA (National Artisan Confederation), Confapi (National Confederation of Artisans and Small and Medium Enterprises), Confcommercio (Italian General Confederation of Enterprises, Professions and Self-Employment) and Confesercenti (Association of enterpreneurs) also attended the meeting.

Rome, 4 November 2021