Competition authority

From the Italian Competition Authority internet site

 Competition authority

• Scope of activities
• Agreements to restrict competition
• Abuse of dominant positions
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Corporate separations
• Legislation
 Scope of Activities
According to antitrust law, the Antitrust
Authority is responsible for detecting
a) agreements restricting competition,
b) abuses of dominant position,
c) merger and acquisition operations involving the
creation or strengthening of dominant positions in
ways that eliminate or substantially reduce
competition on a lasting basis
 a) Agreements to restrict competition

• When businesses restrict competition by

agreeing to coordinate their market behavior
instead of competing openly, this is harmful to
consumers as well as other competitors.
• The task of the Antitrust Authority is to
prevent this from happening and to inflict
fines on whoever breaks the law.
b) Abuses of dominant position

• The Antitrust Authority also steps in whenever

businesses abuse their market power by
– imposing unreasonable prices on consumers,
– denying market access to potential competitors
– or maneuvering to cut competitors out of their
markets
 c) M&A
• Whenever two companies merge or one
company purchases another, the Antitrust
Authority determines whether the new
enterprise embodies too much market power.
• When threats to competition are identified, it
may prohibit the merger or impose measures
for mitigating their negative impact on
competition
 legislation
• The Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato), better
known as the Antitrust Authority, was established in Italy in 1990.
• It is an independent body, meaning that all its decisions are based on the law and it is
impossible for the Government or for any political parties to interfere.
• Having as aim the citizens’ welfare, the Authority enforces those rules which prohibit
anticompetitive agreements among undertakings, abuse of dominant position as well as any
possible mergers which may create or strengthen dominant positions detrimental to
competition.
• As of 2004, the Italian Competition Authority has also been in charge of enforcing laws against
conflicts of interest for Holders of Public Office.
• As of 2007, the Antitrust has been in charge of protecting consumers from any unfair
commercial practices among undertakings, as well as from all misleading advertising.  In order
to guarantee fair market competition, it also intervenes against all comparative advertising
which may bring discredit on competitors’ products or cause confusion among consumers.

• http://www.agcm.it/en/consumer-protection/consumer-protection-legislation.html
 European Law
• http://www.agcm.it/en/european-union/european-la
w-on-the-protection-of-competition.html

• http://ec.europa.eu/competition/index_en.html