Italian Authority Research Articles

The Italian Competition Authority Imposes a Fine for a Breach of Disclosure Duty to One of the Most Important Undertakings in Italy in the Industry of Power Production from Renewable Energy Sources (ERG)

On the 22nd of October 2013, the Italian Competition Authority (the "Authority") opened an investigation against ERG S.p.A. for a breach of disclosure duty in accordance with section 3 (1) of Legislative Decree 13 August 2010, n. 130, relating to incentives of competition for the natural gas market "Misure per la maggiore concorrenzialita nel mercato del gas naturale ed il trasferimento dei benefici risultanti ai clienti finali, ai sensi dell’art. 30, commi 6 e 7 della legge 23 luglio 2009, n. 99" ("D. Lgs. 130/2010"). This case presents new features in regards to a sanction, which has been imposed for the first time by the Authority. However, as the Authority stated, this sanction might not constitute a precedent to be applied in analogous cases.

When Competition Law Analysis Goes Wrong The Italian Pfizer/Pharmacia Case

The January 2012 decision of the Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) to fine Pfizer and Pharmacia €10.6 million is an illustration of the more aggressive trend taken by competition authorities in the pharmaceutical sector. In this case, the ICA alleges that the parties sought to delay entry of generic suppliers by implementing a “complex strategy” to “artificially” extend its patent rights, hence committing an abuse of a dominant position in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”).The purpose of this paper is to show that the decision of the ICA is fundamentally flawed as it fails to provide any evidence that the parties’ patent filings were misleading or “artificial” under the applicable patent laws. Instead, the decision is based solely on the ICA’s unsubstantiated view that Pfizer’s conduct did not constitute “competition on the merits”, a vague standard unable to satisfy the basic requirements of the rule of law and legal certainty. Following this unreasoned decision, pharmaceutical companies and their counsel face an impossible task of assessing which IP strategies are compatible with competition law. This legal uncertainty, combined with the risk of large fines, means that pharmaceutical firms may no longer dare to take steps to obtain patent protection to which they are legally entitled, and more importantly, may have less incentive to invest in future research and development.

Measuring Spatial Effects in Presence of Institutional Constraints: The Case of Italian Local Health Authority Expenditure

Spatial econometric models are now an established tool for measuring spillover effects between geographical entities. Unfortunately, however, when entities share common borders but are subject to different institutional frameworks, unless this is taken into account the conclusions may be misleading. In fact, under these circumstances, where institutional arrangements play a role, we should expect to find spatial effects mainly in entities within the same institutional setting, while the effect across different institutional settings should be small or nil even where the entities share a common border. In this case, factoring in only geographical proximity will produce biased estimates, due to the combination of two distinct effects. To avoid these problems, we derive a methodology that partitions the standard contiguity matrix into within-contiguity and between-contiguity matrices, allowing separate estimation of these spatial correlation coefficients and simple tests for the existence of institutional constraints. We then apply this methodology to Italian Local Health Authority expenditures, using spatial panel techniques. We find a high and significant spatial coefficient only for the within-contiguity effect, confirming the validity of our approach.

Outsourcing Services in the Italian National Health Service: The Evaluation of Private and Public Operators

Outsourcing has shown itself worldwide to be a useful tool for improving partnership between private and public companies. The budgetary constraints imposed by the Italian government on health industry are enhancing the urgency to outsource to face costs. Our study deals with the relationship between ASLs (Aziende Sanitarie Locali, the Italian local health authority) and private operators outsourcing in Italy.We studied 44 pharmaceutical companies (with a yearly turnover of about €6 billion) and 34 ASLs (with about 12 million users) to find out the areas in which they used outsourcing, the amount and the frequency of such investment, their satisfaction and, therefore, their future intentions. We analysed the answers in search for possible relationships between size, frequency of use and other features to uncover a possible convergence between public and private interest in outsourcing.To better evaluate the convergence we analyse and compare satisfaction of both the operators involved in outsourcing (ASL and private operators). We aim to offer a representation of the current state of outsourcing in the Italian Healthcare System and a first indication of possible contrasts in the relationship between public and private partners. The results suggest that public and private operator have a different satisfaction level and in particular their expectations are in contrast whit their satisfaction: ASLs are generally more satisfied than pharmaceutical companies, but expect a considerable reduction of outsourced activities; private companies are less satisfied and provide an increase in these activities.

The New Italian Regulation on Copyright Enforcement: Comparative and Critical Remarks

At the end of December the Italian Communications Authority (Agcom) unanimously approved a new regulation on copyright enforcement for on-line infringements. This Regulation, which does not imitate any previous European or US legislation, holds a specific procedure which can be used by copyright holders in case of infringements of the so-called digital works. The paper provides a legal analysis of this new Regulation, remarking the most relevant issues, with specific reference to the right to defense and to the balance of different interests of ISPs and IPRs holders. The last section of the article underlines the main differences between the Agcom solutions and the Frech Hadopi law, also dealing with the lack of European harmonization which could be caused by the single national regulations.

Antitrust Marathon V: When in Rome Public and Private Enforcement of Competition Law

The Antitrust Marathon is a long-running series of roundtable discussions sponsored by the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the Competition Law Forum of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, focusing on enduring issues of comparative competition law. These discussions always take place the day before or after the great marathon races of the world which some of the participants also endure. However, no running is required for the roundtable discussion itself. Past Antitrust Marathons have focused on Abuse of Dominance, Antitrust and the Rule of Law; Competition and Consumer Protection, and other topics, and have been held in Chicago, London, Boston and Dublin. We are grateful to the Italian Competition Authority and the University of Rome I (Sapienza) for hosting and being co-sponsors of the 2013 Antitrust Marathon.Our topics this year are:• Public-Private Partnerships for Effective Enforcement• Effective Injunctive Relief• Private Actions for Damages• Criminal Enforcement

An Application of ELECTRE Tri to Support Innovation

ABSTRACTIn relation to the economic crisis, the airports were pressed from their national civil aviation authorities and from the market to lower their costs and improve their capability in organizing the supply of public facilities. Some airports reacted to this situation improving their efficiency in invoicing and collecting user charges. An enterprise that supplies different services to the Italian Aviation Authority and to several Italian companies who are airport concessionaires decided to analyse the Italian airport revenues from off‐flight services, in order to compare their different results and help them improve their product offerings and identify new products' value drivers.To meet this requirement, an outranking method, ELECTRE Tri, was used to evaluate the marginal and overall activation of each Italian airport in reacting to the crisis and making profit by organizing public facilities and services that are different from the classic air navigation services on the ground. The choice of the method and the adopted procedure were motivated by the difficulties in reliable data acquisition, comparison of different and almost incomparable situations and preference elicitation, without the involvement of the actual decision makers and, in relation to a sequence of model versions, different in terms of problem structuring and parameters definition.A collaborative procedure of model structuring and incremental result analysis and several ELECTRE Tri applications, assigning each airport to a specific category, were oriented to the generation of a ‘robust’ model and a clear result, to read and synthesize all the information elements, understand the situation and acquire a shared vision of the problem, orient the process of information acquisition and support the definition of some improving actions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Antitrust Marathon V: When in Rome Public and Private Enforcement of Competition Law

The Antitrust Marathon is a long-running series of roundtable discussions sponsored by the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the Competition Law Forum of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, focusing on enduring issues of comparative competition law. These discussions always take place the day before or after the great marathon races of the world which some of the participants also endure. However, no running is required for the roundtable discussion itself. Past Antitrust Marathons have focused on Abuse of Dominance, Antitrust and the Rule of Law; Competition and Consumer Protection, and other topics, and have been held in Chicago, London, Boston and Dublin. We are grateful to the Italian Competition Authority and the University of Rome I (Sapienza) for hosting and being co-sponsors of the 2013 Antitrust Marathon.Our topics this year are:• Public-Private Partnerships for Effective Enforcement• Effective Injunctive Relief• Private Actions for Damages• Criminal Enforcement

Strategic Underinvestment as an Abuse of Dominance under EU Competition Rules

The latest frontier of the essential facility doctrine under EU competition law is the use of antitrust rules to impose on dominant firms a duty to invest in infrastructure development. While a genuine lack of capacity has traditionally been considered an objective justification for a refusal to grant access to an essential facility, the decisions issued by the Italian Competition Authority in Eni/TTPC and by the Commission in GDF Suez and Eni have questioned the dominant firms' freedom to decide whether, to what extent and under what conditions to invest in infrastructure development. In all the above-mentioned cases, the antitrust authorities were ultimately concerned with the dominant firms' alleged failure to make adequate investments in infrastructure development, as a consequence of the conflict of interest inherent in vertical integration. However, the objections raised by the Italian Competition Authority and by the Commission rest on profoundly different - and, to a certain extent, contradictory - grounds. Whereas the Eni-TTPC decision appears to have been heavily influenced by an extremely complex and peculiar set of facts, the GDF Suez and Eni decisions were based on the essential facility doctrine. The broad and flexible interpretation of this doctrine set forth by the Commission seems to have further lowered the threshold above which antitrust authorities may find abusive a refusal to grant access to an important facility. Furthermore, the Commission introduced a notion of strategic underinvestment based on the independent facility operator test, which seems extremely discretionary and difficult to apply.

RECENT DECISIONS OF ITALIAN COURTS ON INTEREST RATE SWAPS

RECENT DECISIONS OF ITALIAN COURTS ON INTEREST RATE SWAPS

METHODS FOR QUANTIFYING ANTITRUST DAMAGES: THE PASTA CARTEL IN ITALY

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the quantification of the damages caused by anticompetitive conduct by applying a number of empirical methods to the pasta cartel in Italy, which was discovered by the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (Italian Competition Authority, or AGCM) in 2007. These methods include the dummy variable approach, the dynamic treatment effects (DTE) method, and the so-called straight-line methods. The key results show that both the dummy variable and the DTE methods perform better than the straight-line methods. Moreover, the last should not be used when the underlying cost and demand drivers over the cartel period are substantially different from those prevailing before or after. The dummy variable approach and the DTE method provide very similar estimates of the cartel overcharge, though there is no reason to expect that this would always be the case. Finally, this article contributes to the ongoing debate on “optimal fines” and on the societal benefits of having a proper antitrust enforcement by showing that that the fines levied by the AGCM in this particular case were below “optimal” levels, and that the benefits from this intervention of the AGCM are roughly seven times its annual budget.

Clinical trials with subjects unable to give consent: some ethical-legal paradoxes

The Italian Data Protection Authority recently authorised a US pharmaceutical company and an Italian hospital to use the personal data of people without capacity to make their own decisions, including those with no legal representation, within the framework of a specific clinical trial although this is not legal under current Italian legislation. This action effectively acknowledged the validity of consent given by persons with family ties to patients, or those in hospitals caring for patients, in contrast with Italian legislation which regards as valid only consent that is given by a legally appointed guardian. This article considers the present state of the regulations governing trials involving incapacitated adults, the paradoxes generated by the discrepancy between the authorisation granted by the Authority and current legislation, and (possible) future developments.

Adapting to the new path: Khatmiyya Sufi authority, the al-Mirghani family, and Eritrean nationalism during British Occupation, 1941–1949

This article examines the relationship between Sufi authorities and political transformation in Eritrea during the mid- and late 1940s. It analyzes the role of Eritrea's largest and most influential Sufi order, the Khatmiyya, and how its leadership struggled to maintain its influence amidst the rapidly changing political and social climate initiated by the collapse of Italian colonial authority in 1941. With the arrival of the British Military Administration (BMA), much of the region comprising the Khatmiyya's historical heartland in western and northern Eritrea experienced rapid social and political transformation, as landless Tigre-speaking peasants mobilized a widespread emancipation movement to assert their economic independence, while other Muslim groups beyond the Khatmiyya's base articulated a pro-independence political platform. This article argues that Khatmiyya authorities were largely unable to transition the order from its previous role as an Italian-supported Sufi power into a legitimate authority in post-colonial Eritrea. The Khatmiyya leadership's half-hearted, compromised support for “serf” emancipation among Tigre-speaking groups and its eventual withdrawal from the Eritrean nationalist movement signaled a major decline in the order's influence by the end of the decade. This article thus looks at the role of Khatmiyya authorities to help illuminate one of the more complex and misunderstood aspects of Eritrea's early nationalist history.

Infrastructural equip ment and regulati on. Key interv entions for sustaining security and development of the Italian natural gas market

The paper compares potentialities and criticalities of the Italian gas market. The aim of this work is not only the creation of a competitive market, which can guarantee the security of supply, but also the ambitious perspective of turning Italy into the Southern European gas hub. These challenges have as their most important obstacle a complex scheme of relations, involving both National and European governments. In this context, the most debated evolution is certainly the complete (ownership) unbundling between Eni, the Italian gas market incumbent, and Snam Rete Gas, the Italian TSO. Another discussed issue is the efforts of infrastructural expansion, supported by new specific regulations of the Italian Authority for electricity and gas. The purpose of this expansion, apart from the security of supply and energy security, is to have a direct influence on pricing and trade, in order to revaluate Italy’s role in the European energy arena.

Cost of red blood cell transfusion: an activity-based cost description

Anemia is the most common cytopenia associated with many hematologic disorders and malignancies such as congenital and acquired marrow SUMMARY Red blood cell (RBC) transfusions can alleviate symptoms like fatigue, dyspnea, and cardiac problems. This research aims at identifying, measuring, and valuing health care resources and activities needed to provide RBC transfusions in Italy. An empirical, retrospective cost description of the RBC transfusion process was performed following the viewpoint of a large Italian Local Health Authority based in Florence, Italy. Activity based costing (ABC) and traditional cost (direct costs plus a share of indirect costs) methods were applied. The RBC transfusion process was divided into 3 episodes (donation, processing, and transfusion) and 13 activities. Costs (in € 2008) were grouped in 5 categories (labor, disposables, lab tests, equipment, other costs). Costs for managing transfusion-related risks were not considered. The full cost for RBC transfusions is € 482.1 (donation: € 113.6; processing € 233.3; transfusion € 135.2) and € 346.9 for RBC units. ABC highlights that the most and the least expensive activities are quality assessment (€ 191.9) and waste management (€ 0.3). Labor is the most relevant cost item of the full cost for RBC transfusion. Pharmacologic research aiming at increasing the number of RBC transfusion-free patients should take into account, together with other parameters, also the real RBC transfusion costs. Cost of red blood cell transfusion: an activity-based cost description

Real Crime: Criminal Competition Law

This paper investigates the theoretical basis for criminalizing anticompetitive behavior that violates national antitrust laws. Though many scholars justify criminal antitrust sanctions solely on theories of utilitarian deterrence, I argue that retributivist justifications are relevant to whether or not individuals and corporations should be subject to conviction for these white collar crimes. The unique stigma of criminal sanctions may require the justification of the moral blameworthiness of the acts and actors. The paper also compares relative levels of corporate fines in jurisdictions where criminal prosecution is available and those where the sanctions are limited to civil remedies, reviews the policy positions of non-governmental organizations including the OECD and ICN, and finally, the raises the challenges of counseling and obtaining leniency in multi-jurisdictional investigations that have differing sanctions. The paper was presented at conference “Antitrust Marathon,” a series of roundtable discussions among competition and consumer law experts on the enduring issues of comparative competition law. The series is co-sponsored by the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies of Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the Competition Law Forum of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. The Rome Antitrust Marathon is also co-sponsored by the University of Rome I (Sapienza) and the Italian Competition Authority. It will be published in the European Competition Journal.

Measuring Spatial Effects in Presence of Institutional Constraints: The Case of Italian Local Health Authority Expenditure

Over the last decades spatial econometrics models have represented a common tool for measuring spillover effects across different geographical entities (counties, provinces, regions or nations). Unfortunately, no one has considered that when these entities share common borders but obey to different institutional settings, ignoring this feature may induce misleading conclusions. In fact, under these circumstances, and if institutions do play a role, we expect to find spatial effects mainly entities belonging to the same institutional setting, while the effect across different institutional settings should be attenuated or totally absent, even if the entities share a common border. In this case, relying only on geographical proximity will then produce biased estimates, due to the composition of two distinct effects. To avoid these problems, we derive a methodology that partitions the standard contiguity matrix into within and between contiguity matrices, allowing to separately estimate these spatial correlation coefficients and to easily test for the existence of institutional constraints. In our empirical analysis we apply this methodology to Italian Local Health Authority expenditures, using spatial panel techniques. Results show a strong and significant spatial coefficient only for the within effect, thus confirming the importance and validity of our approach.

Price changes around hedge fund trades: disentangling trading and disclosure effects

Previous studies find positive stock market reactions around announcements that hedge funds own large equity stakes in companies and use this evidence to support the hypothesis that hedge fund activism creates value. A concurrent explanation is that the price reaction reflects, at least in part, the market impact associated with hedge fund trades. We exploit the blockholder’s legal filing requirements with the Italian regulatory authority (CONSOB) to separately examine trading and disclosure effects associated with hedge fund trades. Trading effects are related to hedge funds’ buying activity on the market, whereas disclosure effects are related to the possibility that the market anticipates future activism and reacts to the announcement of hedge funds’ ownership. The trading effect is significantly larger than the disclosure effect. This result implies that the price impact associated with hedge fund purchases explains a large portion of the price reaction attributed exclusively to hedge fund activism in previous studies. We also find that trading by hedge funds produces a permanent change in the stock price, which occurs in equal part both prior to and concurrent to the trading activity. The execution strategy used by hedge funds to accumulate their position (on exchange or downstairs trading vs. block trading or upstairs) affects both the size and the temporal distribution of the trading effect.

Price Changes Around Hedge Fund Trades: Disentangling Trading and Disclosure Effects

Previous studies find positive stock market reactions around announcements that hedge funds own large equity stakes in companies and use this evidence to support the hypothesis that hedge fund activism creates value. A concurrent explanation is that the price reaction reflects, at least in part, the market impact associated with hedge fund trades. We exploit the blockholder's legal filing requirements with the Italian regulatory authority (CONSOB) to separately examine trading and disclosure effects associated with hedge fund trades. Trading effects are related to hedge funds’ buying activity on the market, whereas disclosure effects are related to the possibility that the market anticipates future activism and reacts to the announcement of hedge funds’ ownership. The trading effect is significantly larger than the disclosure effect. This result implies that the price impact associated with hedge fund purchases explains a large portion of the price reaction attributed exclusively to hedge fund activism in previous studies. We also find that trading by hedge funds produces a permanent change in the stock price, which occurs in equal part both prior to and concurrent to the trading activity. The execution strategy used by hedge funds to accumulate their position (on exchange or downstairs trading vs. block trading or upstairs) affects both the size and the temporal distribution of the trading effect.

Patent procedures misuse and drugs: Italian Competition Authority's Pfizer ruling annulled

Patent procedures misuse and drugs: Italian Competition Authority's Pfizer ruling annulled