The Italian Competition Authority (, AGCM) is the

competition regulator A competition regulator is the institution that oversees the functioning of markets. It identifies and corrects practices causing market impediments and distortions through competition law (also known as antitrust law). In general it is a governm ...

in Italy. It is an Italian quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization established on the basis of Law №287 of 10 October 1990. 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: ''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

The main duties of the authority are: * Vigilance against abuses from market dominance. * Vigilance against

cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collaborate with each other as well as agreeing not to compete with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. A cartel is an organization formed by producers ...

s that may prejudice or restrict fair

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

(

Anti-competitive practices Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce Competition (economics), competition in a market. Competition law, Antitrust laws ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, u ...

). * Vigilance on

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...

s to check

concentration ratio In economics, concentration ratios are used to quantify market concentration and are based on companies' market shares in a given industry. A concentration ratio (CR) is the sum of the percentage market shares of (a pre-specified number of) t ...

and verify

market impact In financial markets, market impact is the effect that a market participant has when it buys or sells an asset. It is the extent to which the buying or selling moves the price against the buyer or seller, i.e., upward when buying and downward whe ...

. *

Consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

, against unfair trade practices and

false advertising False advertising is the act of publishing, transmitting, distributing or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally, or recklessly, to promote the sale of property, goods or servi ...

. * Supervise and penalize the cases of

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...

regarding members of

Government of Italy The government of Italy is that of a democratic republic, established by the Italian constitution in 1948. It consists of Legislature, legislative, Executive (government), executive, and Judiciary, judicial subdivisions, as well as of a head of ...

Powers

The Authority in such cases may conduct investigations or hearings, even with the

Guardia di Finanza The Guardia di Finanza (; G. di F. or GdF; or ) is an Italian militarised law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Economy and Finance, instead of the Ministry of Defence (Italy), Ministry of Defence ...

at his disposal, which may result in a warning or an administrative penalty.

Notable cases

* In 2021, the Authority fined

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

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. * In 2022,

Xiaomi Xiaomi (; ) is a Chinese multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Beijing, China. It is best known for consumer electronics software electric vehicles. It is the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones in the worl ...

the Authority fined around 3.2 million Euros (21.76 million Yuan), for refusing to repair phones still under warranty.

Presidents

The Italian Competition Authority is led by a Presidents. In its history the following individuals have held this function: * Francesco Saja (7 November 1990 – 31 July 1994) *

Giuliano Amato Giuliano Amato (; born 13 May 1938) is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Upon Arnaldo Forlani's death in July 2023, Amato became the country's earliest-servin ...

(11 November 1994 – 31 December 1997) * Giuseppe Tesauro (12 March 1998 – 16 February 2005) * Antonio Catricalà (1 March 2005 – 16 November 2011) * Giovanni Pitruzzella (29 November 2011 – 30 September 2018) * Roberto Rustichelli (since 2018)

Codacons

The Competition Authority works sometimes with the Coordinamento delle associazioni per la difesa dell'ambiente e dei diritti degli utenti e dei consumatori, known in English as the Codacons. It is an organisation with the competence to protect with all legitimate means the rights and dignity of consumers and users. However in a case against

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

in 2022, the authority also sanction the Codacons for approving the terms and conditions of Ryanair which the authority found unfair.Italian Competition Authority Sanctions Ryanair and Codacons
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References

External links

*
''AGCM'' commission hearings
are available on Radio Radicale website (in Italian). Government agencies established in 1990 1990 establishments in Italy Competition regulators Regulation in Italy Consumer organisations in Italy {{Italy-org-stub