Italgas in Dismissal of Antitrust Charges

Cleary Gottlieb successfully defended Italgas S.p.A., Italy’s largest natural gas distributor, against charges by the Italian Antitrust Authority that Italgas had breached new article 8.2 bis of the Italian Antitrust Law, which imposes unbundling obligations on companies providing services of general economic interest. The Italian Antitrust Authority, implementing article 8.2 bis for the first time, had ruled that Italgas failed to unbundle its heating equipment maintenance business from its gas distribution activities and also failed to comply with related filing obligations. The Regional Administrative Court of Latium quashed the Authority’s decision in a judgment that will be published within the next few months.