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Barone, Giovanni; Amore, Roberto --- "Italy" [2010] ELECD 759; in Foer, A. Albert; Cuneo, W. Jonathan (eds), "The International Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: The International Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law

Editor(s): Foer, A. Albert; Cuneo, W. Jonathan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848448773

Section: Chapter 19

Section Title: Italy

Author(s): Barone, Giovanni; Amore, Roberto

Number of pages: 22

Extract:

19 Italy
Giovanni Barone and Roberto Amore1


Introduction
The level of private antitrust enforcement in Italy has been gradually increasing over
the last few years thanks to consistent promotion and public debates at both the EU
and national levels, leading to a greater awareness of the remedies available through
private actions. This trend was somewhat reinforced by the landmark judgment of the
Supreme Court (ruling in Plenary Session) in the Unipol case of 2005,2 which finally
clarified that, in addition to competitors and intermediate customers, final consumers
may also bring private lawsuits in Italy under either Italian or EU competition law. Ever
since then, extensive discussions and proposals have taken place on the introduction of
a new law regulating collective or `class' actions in Italy, which could also be utilized in
relation to antitrust cases. The adoption of such a law has been delayed and hampered
by widespread public criticism, including resistance by the main industry federation. The
frequent turnover of the Italian Government, leading to shifts in legislative priorities,
further compounded the delay until January 2010, when the new law finally entered into
force.
Private antitrust claims in Italy, particularly follow-on damages actions based on
cartel infringements, may also increase in the future as a result of the rising application of
the Leniency Program introduced by the Italian Antitrust Authority (Autorità Garante
della Concorrenza e del Mercato, hereinafter `IAA') in 2007, which is expected to lead to
greater detection of cartel activity in the coming years.
Conversely, ...