Italy

The contribution provides a thorough assessment of the case law and decision-making practice on abuse of dominance in Italy. It discusses the main developments in 2021, taking into account antitrust investigations, administrative court rulings, and civil court rulings. The contribution also addresses the main issues relevant under Article 102 TFEU and Article 3 of the Italian Competition Act, such as market definition and market power, different types of exclusionary abuses, and exploitative abuses, the remedies and sanctions that can be imposed by the competent administrative and judicial authorities, procedural aspects, and private antitrust enforcement. Finally, the authors analyze a number of possible future developments in the enforcement of the rules on abuse of dominance in Italy, including the increasing focus on high-tech markets, the envisaged changes to the rules on abuse of economic dependence aimed at controlling the market power of large digital platforms, the interaction between competition law and sector-specific regulation, the difficulties raised by the cases of misuse of rights or legitimate interests, and the more rigorous approach of the Italian competition authority in assessing commitments offered by the parties.