Italy / Regional Administrative Tribunal / 9554

Telecom Italia v. the Antitrust Authority
Policy area
Competition
Deciding body type
National Court/Tribunal
Deciding body
Lazio Regional Administrative Tribunal
Typ
Decision
Decision date
20/07/2016
  • Italy / Regional Administrative Tribunal / 9554

    Key fats of the case:

    The complainant – Telecom Italia– questioned the legality of Decision No. 25784 of 16 December 2015, Ancillary technical service market, adopted by AGCM, which stated that the complainant – together with other partners – had engaged in an activity aimed at compromising competition in the communication field to the detriment of other companies. For this reason, the complainants were condemned to pay a significant fine. The complainants accused AGCM of imposing a sanction that was allegedly disproportionate in relation to the conduct perpetrated by the companies.

    Outcome of the case:
     
    According to the court, the decision adopted by AGCM shall be considered consistent with the proportionality and adequacy principles. For this reason, the complaint was rejected. 
  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter

    Moreover, considering that proportionality, even in the framework of antitrust legislation, is a fundamental principle of the EU set of rules (Article 5 of TFEU and Article 49, paragraph 3 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union), it follows that, should the Antitrust Authority have come – at the end of the procedure for calculating the fine at issue – to a result that is in breach of the proportionality principle, the decision challenged would have been unavoidably vitiated due to non-compliance with EU legislation […].

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter (original language)

    E, considerato che il principio di proporzionalità, anche nella specifica materia del diritto antitrust, è canone fondante dell’ordinamento europeo (art. 5 TFUE e art. 49, comma 3, della Carta dei Diritti Fondamentali dell’Unione Europea), ne consegue che, ove l’Autorità fosse pervenuta, all’esito del procedimento di quantificazione della sanzione de qua, ad un risultato in contrasto col principio di proporzionalità, il Provvedimento impugnato sarebbe risultato irrimediabilmente viziato sotto il profilo dell’illegittimità comunitaria […]”