Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

Italian competition law applies to the activities of foreign undertakings that have an effect on the Italian market. Pursuant to Section 1(1), the provisions of the law only apply to agreements and abuses of dominance which fall outside the scope of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.
The Italian Competition Act has a broad scope of application embracing all sectors of the Italian economy, both public and  …

Scope

The legal supervision of competition issues is a relatively recent phenomenon in Italian law. Italy was one of the last Member States to adopt its own competition regime and until 1990 had no competition rules of its own. Italian competition law is now governed by the Competition and Fair Trading Act, Law No 287 of 10 October 1990 ("the Competition Act"). The Act provides for the establishment of a Competition Authority responsible for administering and enforcing competition rules. The Act brings Italian law in line with EU rules on competition while recognizing the supremacy and scope of application of European law. In this context, the Competition Act at Section 1(4) specifically provides that its provisions “shall be interpreted in accordance with the principles of European Community competition law.” Important changes have been introduced by Law No 57 of 5 March 2001 and by the “Bersani” Decree-Law of 4 July 2006 converted into Law No 248 on 4 August 2006, including conferring additional powers on the Competition Authority.

The question of unfair practices is dealt with separately under Italian law. Decree No 114 of 31 March 1998 empowers the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to prohibit certain restrictive practices considered detrimental to consumers. Such is the case of sales below costs, which are also prohibited under Section 2598, No 3 of the Civil Code. However, limited exceptions to the prohibition exist under Law No 80/1980 in cases of sales promotions, end of season clear outs and sale of obsolete products. On 5 August 5 2022, the Italian parliament adopted Law No 118, the “2021 Annual Competition Law” (“ACL”). The ACL, which entered into force on 27 August 2022,  amends the Italian Competition Law (Law No 287/90) to further align Italian competition law with the EU rules, which have evolved over the years.

Context

Italian competition law applies to the activities of foreign undertakings that have an effect on the Italian market. Pursuant to Section 1(1), the provisions of the law only apply to agreements and abuses of dominance which fall outside the scope of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU.

The Italian Competition Act has a broad scope of application embracing all sectors of the Italian economy, both public and private. Public and State-controlled undertakings are fully subject to the Competition Act's basic prohibitions (Section 8.1). Pursuant to a provision that parallels the EU treaty, those prohibitions do not apply to firms that by law provide “services of general economic interest” or operate in a monopoly situation, to the extent that such exemption is indispensable to perform their specific, assigned tasks (Section 8.2).

The Italian Competition Authority was given exclusive jurisdiction on antitrust issues in banking by Law No 262/2005 and by section 2 of Legislative Decree No 303 of 29 December 2006. 

The 2021 Annual Law for Competition (Law No 118 of 5 August 2022) extends the scope of the ICA's enforcement powers. Undertakings may face more invasive intervention from the ICA. 

Global Competition Law

419. Scope

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Les notions juridiques connexes

419. Scope

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Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise