The Italian Competition Authority (Italian: Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) is the competition regulator in Italy. It is an Italian quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization established on the basis of Law №287 of 10 October 1990.[1]

The seat of the AGCM, Rome

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 the Italian competition regulator, the Authority has the task of enforcing both Italian and European consumer protection laws.

It is financed by annual allocations through a special chapter of the Ministry of Economic Development's budget. The Financial Law of 2006 introduced partial self-financing:[2] AGCM has full control over the management of these funds for its own operations.

An annual report is presented to the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy.

Duties

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The main duties of the authority are:

Powers

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The Authority in such cases may conduct investigations or hearings, even with the Guardia di Finanza at his disposal, which may result in a warning or an administrative penalty.

Notable cases

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  • In 2021, the Authority fined Amazon 1.13 billion euros ($1.28 billion) for alleged abuse of market dominance in intermediation services on marketplaces to favour the adoption of its own logistics service - Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) - by sellers active on Amazon.it.[3]
  • In 2022, Xiaomi the Authority fined around 3.2 million Euros (21.76 million Yuan), for refusing to repair phones still under warranty.[4]

Presidents

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The Italian Competition Authority is led by a Presidents. In its history the following individuals have held this function:[5]

References

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  1. ^ Law №287 of 10 October, 1990 (The Competition and Fair Trading Act) Archived December 10, 2000, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Article 10(7-bis) of Law 287/90 as amended by article 1(69) of Law no. 266 of 2005.
  3. ^ Elvira Pollina and Maria Pia Quaglia (9 December 2021), Italy fines Amazon record $1.3 bln for abuse of market dominance Reuters.
  4. ^ Lancaster, Marco (2022-07-18). "Xiaomi Italy responds to €3.2 million fine from Italian Competition Authority". Gizchina.com. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  5. ^ "I precedenti collegi" (in Italian). Italian Competition Authority. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019.
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