How Much May an Unreasonable Delay Cost? TAR Lazio Annuls the Highest Sanction Ever Issued by the Italian Competition Authority

Abstract

The present contribution describes and comments on recent ruling(s) issued by the Italian Regional Administrative Court of Lazio Region (TAR Lazio) which annuls the highest sanction ever imposed by the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) for the breach of competition law. The Court found that the AGCM’s final decision vitiated on both procedural and substantive grounds. The TAR Lazio held that the Competition Authority violated the principle of ‘reasonable length of proceedings’ by deferring the initiation of the investigation without valid justification. For this reason, in the last part of the contribution, the authors briefly analyse the possible consequences of the unjustified delays in the administrative proceedings on the final rulings.

Keywords

• anti-competitive agreement
• unreasonable delays
• consequences of undue delay
• agcm
• parental liability
• incorrect determination of relevant market