The defense of direct consumers is a terrain on which a large part of the competition challenge is played out. And the Antitrust annual report proves it amply. "From 1 January 2020 to 31 July 2021, the Authority imposed total fines of 627 million euros, of which 496 million relating to the protection of competition and 131 million relating to consumer protection", reported the president of the Competition and market authority, Roberto Rustichelli. The 2021 Antitrust annual report comes just on the eve of the presentation of the annual law on competition that Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced for October and which constitutes one of the pillars of the reforms to be implemented to ensure the European funds of the Next Generation EU to the Italian recovery plan and resilience.
Rustichelli's report deals with all the relevant issues, from tax dumping to the important issue of equity in digital markets, to the implementation of the Pnrr. "It must be recognized that there are many uncertainties regarding the implementation of the Plan, starting with a hypertrophic regulatory framework that acts as a brake on investments", as demonstrated by the average implementation time for public works worth more than 50 million: a good 14 years Italy to complete them.
In the year of the pandemic, the Antitrust pushed for consumer protection, "aware that the spread of the contagion required promptly repressing any opportunistic exploitation of the crisis". Sectors of intervention: health and credit, above all, but also water, electricity and gas due to aggressive commercial practices. And he oriented his activity towards pragmatism. And so, for example, he obtained “the recognition of refreshments for the benefit of over 580 consumers, for a total amount repaid in excess of 34 million euros”, explained the Antitrust president. A procedure, said Rustichelli, sometimes even more pervasive and effective than the sanctions themselves.
Precisely the sanctions to protect competition concerned important operators. Rustichelli cited the 116 million inflicted on Tim because "the conduct in question was found to be suitable for delaying the development of fiber in its most innovative form, i.e. FTTH, precisely in areas where, in the absence of subsidies, the market would not realize the 'innovative infrastructure, with serious prejudice to the digitization process of the country". Rustichelli then recalled the “102 million euros a abuse of dominant position by Google, consisting in not having allowed the interoperability of theapp JuicePass by Enel X Italia with the Android Auto system”. With the aggravating circumstance that “Google's conduct, aimed at favoring its own app Google Maps lent itself, among other things, to negatively influence the development of electric mobility in the crucial phase of its launch". Fine of 11 million also for Italian post for clauses "unjustifiably burdensome towards a competitor". In the entertainment industry, fine of 10 million to Ticketone.
And again, interventions were made (25 million fine) against the PET recycling consortium for "an abuse aimed at excluding a competing consortium that had introduced an alternative and innovative recycling system". High attention is paid to digital markets with three investigations still open against Google, Amazon and again Apple and Amazon together. And then still other investigations are underway against Mc Donald's and Benetton.
