Public services, post offices, transport, banks, energy, pharmacies, taxis, professions. The Antitrust reaffirms, in a note of 91 pages divided into 13 chapters signed by the president Giovanni Pitruzzella and sent to the Government and Parliament, the sectors to be liberalize to "restart growth as soon as possible", also emphasizing that the process must be accompanied by "interventions that guarantee social equity and that favour, also through the appropriate labor law reforms, new integration opportunities for individuals who emerge particularly penalized".
Specifically, the Antitrust has asked above all for the liberalization and privatization of local services, the separation of Poste Italiane from Bancoposta, the elimination of minimum tariffs in all professions, expansion of the workforce of notaries and pharmacists. And again: the assignment of a second (free) license to taxi drivers, the ban on the sale of policies combined with mortgages, the reduction of bank commissions.
The advice to the Government also concerns the modus operandi of the reform: "It is appropriate to proceed not so much with measures that concern sectoral markets, but with interventions of a general order that untie the knots on different markets", in order avoid “the doubt of vexatious interventions”.
Here is point by point some steps of the report sent to the Government:
PUBLIC SERVICES AND PROCUREMENT
Go ahead with privatizations. End of "in house" contracts
To ensure that the principles of liberalization (…) are effectively applied, it is necessary to introduce an obligation for local authorities to define their public service obligations in advance. Once the perimeter has been established, they will have to verify the possibility of competitive management with open procedures for expressing the interest of operators in the sector to manage services in competition. Only in the event of failure of this procedure will the local authorities be able to maintain the exclusive management entrusted with a tender to a private individual, while the in-house assignment (directly managed by the public body with one of its companies) is permitted only against a market analysis that clearly demonstrates the direct benefits. As far as public procurement is concerned, (…) an express prohibition of in-house assignment of works or supplies should be included in the Public Procurement Code.
ENERGY AND FUEL
Yes to multi-brand distributors. Resources for new gas networks
For the fuel sector, the Authority proposes a more incisive rationalization of the distribution network with measures that favor the development of operators independent of the oil companies. (…) To guarantee the absence of obstacles to access for new operators (white pumps and large-scale distribution), it is necessary to prohibit the Regions from inserting constraints on the opening of plants and to eliminate the rule that prevents the construction of fully automated plants. (…) To allow oil companies to also supply points of sale that do not belong to their network (making it possible to create multi-brand plants). [As regards energy], the Authority also deems it necessary that pro-competitive measures be adopted in the short term relating to concessions for the construction of new gas import infrastructures.
TRANSPORT AND RAILWAYS
Cutting concessions. Tenders for regional trains
The toll review system envisaged by the agreement between Anas and Autostrade per l'Italia needs to be changed, moving to a mechanism that provides for the subtraction of the expected productivity rate from the inflation rate and a bonus for an improvement in the quality of the service and for future investment projects, where verifiable. (…) Lastly, the fifty-year duration of the concessions should be reduced, which should instead be commensurate with the characteristics of the investment and the possibility of its remuneration. For rail transport, (…) the Antitrust hopes that the Transport Authority will be made operational quickly. (...) In regional rail transport, "premiums" in terms of public resources should be provided for regional administrations that decide not to renew the direct assignment with the Fs for another six years.
POSTAL SERVICES AND BANKS
Separation of Bancoposta. No to mortgages with the policy
In the postal sector it is necessary to delimit the perimeter of the universal service, limiting it exclusively to those essential services that the user would not otherwise be able to purchase, identified by the competent regulatory authority. (…) As regards Banco Posta's activity, it is necessary to provide for the establishment of a company € separate from Poste Italiane, which has as its corporate purpose the performance of full-fledged banking activities and which meets the requirements of the regulations of the Consolidated Banking Act. [Banks and insurance companies:] according to the Antitrust it is preferable to limit oneself to intervening and on the level of interbank commissions. (…) A ban should also be introduced for the bank that enters into a mortgage or loan to simultaneously sell a policy linked to that contract.
ORDERS AND PROFESSIONS
Abolition of tariffs. Increase in the number of notaries
In the professional sector, the express abolition of any form of tariff is needed, while the Orders must be reformed, ensuring that the disciplinary function is carried out by bodies that guarantee a third party role. Even in the professional training sector, the power of the Councils of the Orders must be limited to setting minimum requirements for training courses, without any need for prior authorizations or recognitions. It is also necessary to revise the staffing plan of notaries, in order to significantly increase the number of posts. Finally, for all Orders, the rule that provides for control by the Orders themselves of the transparency and truthfulness of the advertising messages conveyed by professionals must be repealed.
SHOPS, TAXIS, NEWSSTANDS
More pharmacies and range C for everyone. Another license to every taxi driver
In the context of commercial distribution, the Authority deems it "necessary" to abolish the possibility of derogations from the principle of freedom to open new establishments. The increase in the number of taxi licenses should be encouraged, at least in the cities where the service offer has the greatest deficiencies, by providing for adequate "compensation" mechanisms, ie a second license for each of the current holders. On the pharmaceutical front, it is necessary to liberalize the sale of medicines with medical prescription but at the total expense of the patient (the so-called class C medicines) and to remove the obstacles to the opening of new pharmacies. Differentiated remuneration of newsstands should be allowed on the basis of objective parameters, which take into account the quality of the services rendered and the results achieved.
