Carloni Publishes Chapter On The Recent Important Developments In Merger Control In Italy

Overview of merger control activity during the last 12 months

In 2013, 59 concentrations were notified to the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato or "ICA"), a significant reduction compared to the numbers in 2012 (451) and in 2011 (514). During the first months of 2014 (January to April), the ICA reviewed and cleared unconditionally 14 concentrations.

This sharp reduction in the number of concentrations reported to the ICA was due to the impact of the Monti government reform on the Italian merger control regime which, as of 1 January 2013, led to: (i) the modification of the reportability requirements in Italy1 which, by making the turnover thresholds cumulative rather than alternatives, introduced an effective mandatory local nexus requirement; and (ii) the abolition of the merger filing fees ("Monti reform")2.

The Monti reform attempted to reduce red-tape and unnecessary administrative burdens by correcting a longstanding anomaly of the ICA having jurisdiction over transactions that do not have an appreciable impact in Italy. A concurrent objective was to free up the ICA's resources to ensure the ICA can focus on the fight against hard-core infringements. This objective appears notionally to have been met given the significant reduction in the number of reviewable transactions. As discussed further in the section 'Key policy developments' below, in order to assess the impact of the amendments in more detail and consider whether further adjustments are necessary, the ICA undertook a statistical analysis and then launched a public consultation to analyse and seek views on the potential effects of lowering the now cumulative Italian target turnover threshold from €49m to €10m so as to ensure that a noninsignificant number of potentially problematic transactions do not escape review (ICA's Comunicazione of 10 February 2014).

From January 2013 to April 2014 ("Relevant Period"):

62 cases were unconditionally cleared by the ICA in Phase I3 since they did not raise serious doubts as to their compatibility with the Italian Competition Act; one case (M-DIS – Servizi Stampa Liguria – Società di Edizione e Pubblicazioni/GEDIS) 4 was unconditionally cleared by the ICA after an in-depth investigation (Phase II);5 one case (Italgas S.p.A. – Acegas-Aps S.p.A/Isontina Reti Gas)6 was prohibited by the ICA after Phase II since it would have created or strengthened a dominant position, as a result of which competition would have been eliminated or substantially reduced on a lasting basis in the Italian market (Article 18 of the Italian...

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